


In Your Eyes

by Yasuo_Karada



Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Aoba Does Nothing Wrong, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Explicit Sexual Content, Ghouls, Graphic Description, Heavy Angst, M/M, Revenge, Sexual Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-30 13:38:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5165843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yasuo_Karada/pseuds/Yasuo_Karada
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The differences between "us" and "them"; ghouls are still a menace upon humanity, and Aoba gets a lot more than he bargained for by becoming acquainted with a certain blond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unravel The World

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this one for a LONG while. Repost from tumblr with some edits. Poor Aoba. ; A ;
> 
> About half of the tags and some of the characters won't show up until at least a few chapters in. But this is what I have planned for this story so if any of the above tags trigger or upset you, beware.

It was the enticingly sweet aroma wafting throughout the house that motivated him to leave his bed.  
  
After a quick glance at the clock, he decided that yeah, he _did_ sleep in long enough, and there were probably fresh donuts waiting for him downstairs. He threw the covers off his body before pulling down his white t-shirt that rose up his body in the middle of the night.

Footsteps echoing through the empty hall as he pulled his long, disheveled hair into a high ponytail, he trudged his way down the stairs and into the kitchen to find his grandmother in front of the stove; it was silent save for the crackling of oil boiling.

“Good morning, Granny,” he spoke mid-yawn, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he shut them to ward off any sleep that remained. A bit more awake now, he approached her from behind to leave a routine peck on top of her little ol’ head, only to be met with a smack from a wooden spoon upon his hand. “Ow.”

“Aoba Seragaki, how many times have I told you to not sleep in this late?! Goodness, I thought you’d never wake up!” she scolded, looking up at him with frightening yet motherly eyes. This scolding…this, too, was routine.

“Granny, it’s my day off,” he whined in response. He laughed at the look she gave him before he took his usual seat at the table. Not even a moment passed before a large bowl of fresh donuts was placed in front of him, his eyes widening and bright at the sheer number of donuts she provided for him. “Wow, you made a lot today!”

“Quit gawking and eat.”

“Thank you for the food~!” he chimed with his hands clapped together before reaching for a warm, soft bundle of fried dough and taking the first bite. A sweet paste filled his mouth and he hummed happily as it went down his throat.

It was, as it always was, absolutely perfect.

About five donuts later, as Aoba watched his grandmother clean up from making his breakfast, a sense of uneasiness began to fill his gut.

“Hey, Granny.”

“Yes, Aoba?”

“I never really noticed before, but…I guess now that I think about it, you never eat breakfast with me.” He watched her – he could’ve sworn he saw her freeze for just the briefest of seconds – as she began to wash the dishes.

“I’m not a fan of sweet things. Plus, I eat in the morning like a normal person. _You’re_ the one who’s always sleeping in late.”

“Hm.” His face scrunched a bit in response. Actually, now that he really thought it, he didn’t remember the two of them ever actually sharing a meal; he was always either at work or she was running errands and usually by the time either of them got home, she had already eaten or prepared his food while she kept busy.

He felt…distant.

“How about we go out to dinner tonight? You won’t have to cook for me, it’ll be my tre—“

“Aoba.” She looked over at him. He froze under her gaze, and it was only when she sighed and gave him a gentle smile that he felt he could relax. “I appreciate the offer, really. But you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Nnn…” He slumped a bit in his seat.

“I have to go out for a while, but I should be back before it gets dark. Your lunch is in the fridge,” she spoke as she dried her hands and began to walk out of the kitchen. Aoba’s gaze followed her every movement.

“Oh, yeah? Are there any errands I could run for you? I didn’t have anything but sleep planned for the day,” he called to her.

“There’s nothing I can’t manage on my own, but if you wouldn’t mind cleaning the house a bit, it would be appreciated,” she responded from the next room over. A moment later, she returned to the kitchen to pat the top of Aoba’s head. He rose from his seat as she turned to leave and hugged her from behind.

“Get home safe, okay?” he murmured. A sudden sharp pain stabbed at him from his hand as she pinched him, earning a low grunt.

“What’s that nonsense? I’ll be fine, you brat.”

Aoba watched his grandmother leave from the front door before he shut it and hurried upstairs. After a quick shower and a fresh change of clothes – his casual attire consisting of jeans and an oversized long-sleeved black shirt with a graphic of some English word he couldn’t quite read – he went to work and picked up the rest of the kitchen of any remaining dirty dishes or messes that had been neglected.  
It was when his work moved to the living room that he decided to turn on the news.

“—ctims were found last night in an alley in the center of the Shinjuku shopping district. Authorities have not released any information aside from the time and location the bodies were discovered. The bodies have yet to be identified though they can say for certain that it was, in fact, a ghoul attack.”

“Scary…” Aoba paid attention to the screen as he tidied up the couch and coffee table. Luckily, the area in question was a fair distance from where they lived; however, the problem of ghouls was still a very real and very nigh danger. The sense of uneasiness returned as he remembered that his grandmother never specified where she was going, only that she would “be home before dark”.

Ghouls.

What even were ghouls? Street gossip informed him of a time, before he was born, where some humans sided with the ghouls; another rumor said some mad scientist made them in his laboratory; another claimed there was a ghoul that was some weird sort of hybrid; yet another stated they were demons sent from hell.

Whatever rumors were true, he knew only this: they fed on people.

They had apparently been a problem in the past as well, but things had seemingly settled down right before he was born. At least, he assumed they did. He didn’t know; he was too young, too unaware of what darkness the world carried.

Ghouls were still an issue, of course, and it seemed like the crisis was gradually rising like it did about twenty-four years ago. They didn’t discriminate, and anybody could be a victim. At that thought, Aoba glanced worriedly at the clock.

Granny wouldn’t be home for at least another seven hours.

 

* * *

 

He had managed to clean up the entire house and his grandmother still wouldn’t be home for about five hours. He was growing restless and anxious, to say the least. Luckily, a text on his phone became his savior.

_are you busy?_

After arranging a meeting place and time, Aoba prepared to leave the house, grabbing his keys and lunch and making extra sure he locked the door when he left. About a ten minute walk down the street later, he was met with a familiar sight: a certain person leaning against a fence playing with the phone in his hand.

“Oi, Noiz!”

The blond turned his attention in Aoba’s direction, placing his phone into his pocket. “Yo.”

“Did I keep you waiting?” Aoba approached him with a slight jog, noticing that instead of his usual disgustingly atrocious attire, he, too, was wearing jeans and a slim-fitting graphic tee. They complimented the several piercings on his body quite nicely. He couldn't help but notice how the tightness of the clothing perfectly molded around his rather fit body, pectorals popping through the fabric.

Very, _very_ nicely.

“Not at all.” Noiz lifted himself off of the fence before motioning for Aoba to follow him. The two walked down the street towards a small shopping center they frequented whenever they had the spare time as Noiz talked about some new game he got over the weekend that he really wanted to show Aoba. He couldn’t help but notice how good Noiz smelled; was he wearing some special type of cologne?

_Buh-bump._

Aoba gulped silently, feeling his heart beat fiercely against his chest. He remained focused on Noiz as he spoke, responding with grunts and nods when appropriate.

The two met in the shopping center’s arcade when Aoba managed to take down RBT’s high score on just about every game there. Obviously, Noiz didn’t take this sitting down and challenged Aoba to a competition of sorts – one where he got his ass handed back to him on a silver platter. Since then, Noiz had initially only challenged Aoba to rematch after rematch until they began to hang out on a regular basis outside of the arcade. Aoba welcomed his company – Noiz was his first and only friend and it was safe to say he had a soft spot for the brat.

He realized some time ago that he might have, kind of, sorta had a crush on him.

It wasn’t yet at the stage where Noiz would always occupy his mind or where he’d go crazy just being near him, there was just a small…interest, he supposed. He enjoyed being around Noiz and wouldn’t mind if they took their friendship to a different level, but he was also perfectly fine just being friends.

“…–s crazy, isn’t it?”

“Hm? What is?” Aoba inquired. The two were window shopping in the plaza when Noiz’s voice drew Aoba’s attention from the accessories he was looking at.

“The attacks are starting to go up again, and they’re getting closer to home,” Noiz clarified, eyeing a small rabbit phone charm in the window display of an electronics store. “We need to be careful.”

“Ah…”

Aoba followed Noiz inside the store; Noiz wanted that rabbit charm, he guessed. When Noiz returned from the register, Aoba saw he already had the charm on his phone.

“Heh, that’s oddly cute for a man your age,” he teased. Noiz could be cute at times, especially when it came to rabbits. A similar charm thrown in his direction quickly shut him up, however, and he scrambled to catch it. “What’s this?”

“They only came in packs of two. I figured you might want the blue one,” the blond deadpanned, taking another glance at his own green rabbit before carefully placing his phone back into his pocket.

Some blushing and hurriedly attaching his own charm to his phone later, and Aoba and Noiz had moved on to check out the next shop. The thought that they had matching phone charms never quite left the back of his mind and he knew his face was slightly pink because of it. Thankfully, Noiz never commented on it the entire time they were out.

They stopped by a café when Noiz got hungry, Aoba having to explain that he brought his own lunch since his grandmother worked so hard to make it for him. He was in luck; she apparently made him an abundance of smoked wieners and some deep-fried chicken.

“Is that all you eat?” Noiz asked, sandwich in hand.

“Is what all I eat?” Aoba paused before taking one of the small wieners into his mouth.

“Your grandma’s cooking. Every time we hang out, you bring some food she made you. Have you ever eaten out before?” Noiz took a bite of his sandwich, almost seeming disinterested in the topic but felt compelled to ask nonetheless.

“Hey, my grandma has the best cooking. And yeah, I tried eating out once. The food was so awful I just about threw up when I got home,” Aoba huffed. He was going to fight to the death to defend Granny’s honor, damn it. “If I could eat her cooking for the rest of my life, I’d die happy.”

“Whatever.” Noiz shrugged.

The two ate while they discussed the usual – news, celebrity gossip, Aoba’s job and progress with talking his grandma into getting a dog, Noiz’s new game.

“You can change your class throughout the game as you need. Right now, I’m a mage but eventually I’ll switch it back over to mercenary,” Noiz explained, visibly excited to be talking about video games.

“I’d like to be an alchemist! That sounds so cool!”

“Well, get it sometime, then. We can play together and take down some of the tougher bosses.”

“Ah, I, uh…I don’t have the console for it just yet…” Aoba made an embarrassed face. His job didn’t earn him a whole lot; it was enough for necessities and helping Granny around the house, but not for expensive purchases. It would still take him a while to save up.

“I’ll get it for you.”

“ _Heeeeeeell_ no, don’t even think about it!”

It was nice, just being able to talk like this.

By the time they were done looking around the plaza and buying little trinkets here and there, the sun was beginning to set.

“Well, I gotta get going. Granny should be home soon.” Aoba checked the time on his phone.

“Hey, Aoba.” Noiz poked his shoulder. “You should come over to my place soon. I’ll show you the game so you can experience it for yourself.”

Wait…was…was Noiz inviting him to his house?

The thought of being alone with him was almost too much and he could feel the heat rushing to his face. Noiz smirked at the sight before lightly smacking him upside the head. “Pervert.”

“Am not!” Aoba protested. “I just…wasn’t expecting it!”

“Right. See you next time?” Noiz’s smirk grew into a smile. It really suited him, Aoba noticed.

“Yeah. I’ll let you know when I’m free.”

“Cool.”

With that, they said their good-byes and parted ways. Aoba felt a bit lighter as he walked home, finding this instance to be a success, for lack of a better term. They were making progress and…well, Aoba had this tiny pang in his gut that maybe, just maybe, Noiz felt the same way?

Not that he was seriously thinking about it, or anything. It was just a fleeting crush.

He stopped at a crosswalk as it signaled for him to stop and wait until it was safe to go. A heavy sigh heaved from his mouth.

Just a fleeting crush.

He didn’t realize exactly how far away the plaza was from his neighborhood – he blamed that on himself for only focusing on Noiz every time they met up – and so by the time he was back in the area it was already dark. He and his grandmother lived in a quiet residential area, so it wasn’t too surprising to find nobody out this late.

It wasn’t surprising, just…unsettling.

Aoba laid on top of the sheets of his bed with his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling, not daring to look at the time; upon returning home, he found that his grandmother had yet to arrive. However, any worry he had quickly dissipated upon hearing the front door open and shut and the sound of activity in the kitchen. He let out a sigh of relief and shifted over onto his side. A delicious scent drifted upstairs sometime later, yet he didn’t quite feel hungry at the moment, still full from lunch and stomach in knots from Noiz’s invitation.

Before he even realized it, his eyes had drifted closed and his body relaxed into a pleasant slumber.

 

* * *

 

“ _Please_ , leave me alone!”

A sudden clatter and piercing scream shook him back awake. Aoba’s eyelids fluttered open and he took a look at the time – about two in the morning.

Panicked, he bolted out of bed and rushed over to his window to investigate the commotion. In the darkness just as they passed the flickering streetlight on the street next to his side of the house, he could make out a young woman staggering away frantically from a man.

He opened the window and climbed out onto the veranda just as he heard the man taunt, “C’mon, sweetheart~! There’s nobody around, they won’t see nothin’!”

“ _Stay away_!” she shrieked mid-sob. Aoba crept over onto a tree branch next to his room and climbed down in a hurry as the pair grew further and further away.

“O-Oi!” he called out, but got no response. He saw the two shadows down the street before the smaller – the woman – took off into a sprint around a corner into an alley.

“Hey, wait!” Aoba took off after them as soon as he reached the ground. He wasn’t even sure exactly which alley they went into yet…at the same time, he knew, he could smell her perfume. He followed the scent of the woman’s perfume until he turned into the same alley to find—

“Hey!” He ran full sprint towards the man, who seemed to be holding something out of view above him. Upon hearing the shout, he immediately dropped it and scrambled in the opposite direction at lightning speed. Aoba realized there was no way he could catch him at that point and came to a stop, short of breath.

A sweet fragrance filled his nostrils and his attention turned towards the source of the scent. His heart fell heavy with dismay as he found the woman in the darkness, her shape limp against the ground, her neck bent at an unnatural angle. Once his eyes became more adjusted to the lack of light, he could see the expression she bore on her face – twisted, pained, frightened.

Aoba fell to his knees and sighed, guilt wracking through his very core.

“I’m sorry…” he murmured, despaired. If only he had called out sooner, he thought, if only he climbed down quicker, ran faster. His eyes closed and he sighed again, his posture slumping.

His nose twitched at an appetizing aroma surrounding him. His eyes shot open and he quickly looked around; there was nobody there, no sound or sign of activity in the area. It was just him and this recently deceased, poor woman, alone in a dark alley.

“What…” he trailed off, his thoughts interrupted by the low rumble in his gut.

_Right now? Really?_

For some reason, Aoba couldn’t keep from looking over at the body in front of him. Every time he did, he noticed his stomach would grumble louder and louder.

His head began to hurt, his heart pounding against his ribcage. His breathing gradually turned into heaving; he wanted to throw up, he was so disgusted with himself. How could his stomach think now – _now_ , of all times – was okay to remind him that he skipped dinner?

He threw himself up onto his feet, breathing becoming more labored as he frantically searched for his phone only to realize –

“Damn it,” he cursed under his heavy breath. He left his phone in his room. He had to call the police. He had to call the police.

Aoba took a few shaky steps away from the body, head pounding and stomach churning as he grew disoriented.

Had to call the police.

 

* * *

 

The sound of violent retching in between sobs echoed throughout the bathroom. Aoba was crouched in front of the toilet, one hand firmly grasping the side of the bowl while the other was balled into a fist, pounding into his gut in some futile attempt to throw up. Hot tears streamed down his face and he did everything he could to keep choking down the scream he so desperately wanted to let out.

“Aoba, what’s going on?! Are you okay?!” Granny threw the door open. Aoba whipped his head in her direction, panicked. Shit, he forgot to lock the door!

She froze where she stood, gaze locked on the sight in front of her.

Aoba, her grandson, was bent over the toilet, eyes wild and afraid and red from tears; his hair was in complete disarray, his face pale with strands of hair stuck to his forehead with sweat and to the side of his mouth with spit and vomit; blood painted the otherwise pristine toilet as his tainted hands grasped it, as he slid down the side to the linoleum and broke down into a shaky, pathetic mess.

“Grandma…” he managed to squeeze out of his tight throat. It hurt. Everything hurt so, _so_ badly. “Ther…There’s something wr-wrong with me…! I…fuck…”

He unleashed a raspy scream, pounding into his gut one more time before he crumbled completely. His grandmother stayed silent as she supported herself against the counter, unable to speak or barely even breathe due to the apparent shock written on her face.

After a moment, she sighed heavily and brought her hand up to her face, covering her eyes with her palm as though she had a headache. Aoba sniffled and through his hazy vision, he looked up to see the expression on her face. She didn’t seem horrified, or disgusted, or confused.

Just…disappointed.

“…Aoba.”

“Grandma…” He inhaled a deep, unstable breath at the risk of releasing more stinging tears. “I’m sick…I-I’m sick in…fuck, what do I do…?”

“How much did you eat?”

Aoba froze and time seemed to freeze with him.

What…What kind of question even _was_ that?

“I asked you,” Granny looked back down at him, her tone firm, “how much did you eat?”

His eyes widened in horror as it all dawned on him. His arms weakly pushed himself up before they crumbled and he remained on the floor, head raised.

“…What are you…?”

“Aoba,” she sighed and closed her eyes. “Just answer me. How much did you eat?”

Aoba gulped, his memory of what just happened only moments ago running fresh in his mind at rapid speed; before he even knew what he was doing, his vision was red, his mouth was full, and stomach satiated, limbs and bits of flesh flying around him.

“…All of her.” His voice was but a coarse whisper.

By the time he was done and came back to his senses, all that remained were bones and her head, still bearing the broken expression he came upon.

“…I ate all of her…Grandma, I’m sick. I need to see somebody.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“How is _any_ of this not necessary?!” He didn’t mean to scream at her, really. But her words struck him where it hurt, and he felt she didn’t quite understand the situation he was in. “Don’t you get it, I _ate_ somebody! I ate another person!”

“I know.”

“And you’re **_fine_** with it?!” He rose onto his feet, keeping balance against the soiled toilet. “You’re not- You’re not even _afraid_ of me?! How are you even taking this so easily?!”

“Aoba.”

“ **How**?!”

“Look in the mirror.”

He didn’t even notice his breathing had become heavy again. He paused at her words, unsure of where she was even going with this. Nonetheless, he staggered over to the counter to look at his reflection.

He met his own eyes in the mirror, and his heart stopped. His right hand absent-mindedly rose up to his face, fingertips delicately touching the skin below his right eye.

In his reflection, he saw his eye was as black as the night sky, his normally amber iris a blood red.

“I…how…?”

How could he have gone the last twenty-three years of his life, living as normal as any other human being--

“…Ghoul…?”

 

 

 


	2. Feel It Drop Degrees, And Freeze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba doesn't even have a friend in God.

“Grandma…wha…?”

Aoba could hardly even begin to gather his thoughts and questions together, let alone convey them. What was all this bullshit? Why was he looking in the mirror at this…this _disgusting_ sight? Why did he find the deep red lingering on the corners of his mouth beautiful against his pale skin, the iron taste still tingling _deliciously_ on his taste buds?

As it all sank in and the pieces were put together, every last one of those questions and many more were washed away as tears he couldn’t even feel anymore rolled down his cheeks. The saltiness mixed in with the taste of blood as the two fluids met, yet all he could do was stare at this stranger gazing back at him through the mirror.

He knew _exactly_ what he was.

“I don’t understand…how could I…how could I have not known…?” His hand slowly lowered from below his eye to gently press against his reflection.

“You can’t be blamed for that, Aoba. I had to take…special precautions to ensure you didn’t know,” Tae spoke with not a hint of wavering in her tone, running a small washcloth below the running faucet. Once she turned it off, she continued, “I’ve had to work very hard, for the last fifteen years, to make sure this moment never happened.”

Aoba flinched as she approached him, turning his head to face her as she raised the damp cloth to his face and began to wipe away his tears and the blood painting his lips. Her gentle touch calmed him, somewhat relieved to see that even the nightmare of a scene she came unto, she wasn’t afraid to approach him.

“I’m sorry to have failed you, Aoba. I only wanted you to live a normal life.”

“…Granny,” Aoba sighed, gingerly placing a hand atop her tuffs of hair. “How can you say something like that? You have never failed me, not ever before, not even now.”

Tae flinched at the touch, then closed her eyes and sighed, letting the soiled cloth slip from her fingers to fall to the tiled floor with a wet splat. His eyebrows furrowed with concern, and he couldn’t help but bite at his lower lip. “Granny?”

“The truth is,” she began with resolve as she removed his hand from her head, “I’m tired, Aoba. My heart can’t go on like this.”

“G-Granny…?” A wave of panic coursed down his spine.

“Going out at odd hours, finding some poor soul who just couldn’t go on living in this world…The things I’ve had to do to make sure you never learned, they’ve weighed me down, Aoba. I can’t keep doing this.” Her eyes opened and stared up at her grandson with ice in her gaze. His stomach did a flip as it dawned on him why they never ate their meals together, why her cooking was the only food he could keep down.

“You need to leave.”

He could literally feel his heart drop like a rock into his gut. He wanted so… _so_ badly to scream and plead with her to not leave him, not when he doesn’t even know how to live with this newly acknowledged identity. He wanted to fight and yet…more than anything, he wanted her to be at peace. He could’ve only imagined how terrified she must have been, knowing all along what was living under her roof.

“…Okay, Granny…” He sniffed, completely drained of any tears; the thought hurt him, how he couldn’t spare any to say goodbye to the one person who had stuck with him during his entire life, at least what he could’ve remembered of it.

“Thank you. I’ll give you whatever food is left and some money to last you a while, and you can clean yourself up and pack what you need.”

She turned to leave the bathroom, as cold and firm as ever. Yet, just as she turned to leave the doorway, Aoba managed to catch just the slightest tremble of her shoulders.

 

* * *

 

_ hey…you awake? _   


Leaving the house had been surprisingly easy. Tae kept a strong front, which he knew was for both of their sakes, and so the very least he could’ve done was to do the same. He had a duffle bag of clothes and toiletries slung over his shoulder, and a plastic bag full of dishes – if he could really even call them that at this point, if he were being honest with himself and what this food really was – in one hand. The last thing his grandmother had told him as he was leaving was that he didn’t need to take his medication anymore.

He had just turned the corner the next neighborhood over when his phone in his other hand beeped in response.

_yeah, sup?_

Aoba sighed, the little rabbit chain coming into view, then inhaled deeply once before typing his reply.

_is now a good time to stop by?_

He managed to cross the street when his phone beeped again. He only hoped he wasn’t going to regret this. He didn't even know why he decided to message Noiz in the first place, he was just...the first person who came to mind, he guessed.

_sure._

Aoba followed the address Noiz sent him in a separate message to a neighborhood right near where the two would meet up for their outings. He should have figured, really. Considering how much nicer this neighborhood was compared to his own, though, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of place Noiz lived in.

Not even ten minutes later, Aoba was paged up and let into a rather nice apartment complex. His heart rate only increased with every step he took right up until he was knocking on Noiz’s door three floors up. It swung open only a couple seconds later.

“Yo. Is everything okay?” Aoba couldn’t help notice how Noiz’s eyebrows raised slightly; just that insignificant acknowledgement to his feelings eased his worries, at least a little.

“Eh…it’s a long story, honestly,” he sighed.

“Well, come on in. I’ll put your stuff in the fridge,” Noiz offered, extending a hand for the plastic bag. Aoba had to physically catch himself before he handed it over. The raised eyebrow and look Noiz gave him hinted that he picked up on Aoba's hesitation.

“It’s fine. I won’t be here long.”

Noiz stepped aside to allow Aoba access to his home, watching as the blue-haired man kicked his shoes off in the traditional Japanese way and set his bags down beside them. The pair made their way to the living room. It held a modern sort of appeal to it, with the sharp colors of the simplistic couch standing out from the wallpaper and carpet set beneath the black metallic coffee table.

“I’m sorry for stopping by so late, by the way…”

“Eh,” Noiz shrugged, “I was up working, anyway.”

“Okay…” Aoba inhaled once again, taking a seat on the floor by the coffee table.

“I’m going to get something to drink. Do you want anything?” Noiz offered as he made his way to the kitchen.

“Just water, please,” Aoba replied after clearing his throat. He watched Noiz’s back until he disappeared around the corner. The sound of dishes being moved around broke the awkward silence.

Aoba sighed yet again, slumping a little. His fingers massaged the crook on his nose between his eyes before his entire palm covered his face, and before he knew it, he began talking to himself.

“This is so fucked up…I don’t even know where I’m going to go, what I’m going to do.”

He curled up within himself, holding his knees to his chest and burying his face into them. “I won’t be able to see Granny ever again…Not Haga-san or the dog Granny and I were about to get…After this, I won't get to see Noiz, either. What am I going to do…?”

He exhaled shakily, his grip tightening around himself.

“...How am I going to be able to tell him now…?”

A sudden, familiar fragrance filled his nostrils; it was strong, close.

He lifted his head from his sorry position and turned his head just in time to see his shadow on the wall, a second shadow towering over him from behind, about to swing something down. Eyes widening, he spun around onto his knees and just barely managed to catch Noiz’s wrist, the knife mere inches away from his face.

Noiz was about to stab him.

_**NOIZ WAS ABOUT TO STAB HIM**_.

“ _N-Noiz_?!” Aoba shrieked in horror, fighting against Noiz’s strength. His frightened eyes met Noiz’s; there was no malice, no craze, only determination.

“Noiz, what the fuck are you _doing_?!”

The two scuffled until Aoba happened upon an opening and kicked Noiz off of him and across the living room. He scrambled onto his feet in a panic, watching with honed senses as Noiz rose to his own feet. The knife in his hand, now that Aoba was able to get a better look at it, seemed…off. Like it wasn’t made like a normal knife. And the blade was jagged and curved slightly – perfect for slicing throats, he realized.

Noiz wiped imaginary spit from his chin with the back of his free hand.

“Finally got you alone, Eagle Eye.”

What the fuck, “ _Eagle Eye_ ”?! Aoba’s breathing intensified as the dire reality of the situation sank in.

He had…He had to get out of here. _NOW_.

Aoba pivoted onto his left foot to make a run for the door, but Noiz beat him to it. Aoba could only freeze, brain wracking around for options as Noiz took a step towards him. “You were a real pain in my ass, always meeting in public places and not doing a single damn thing to give yourself away.”

Aoba took a step back, watching Noiz expertly flip the knife in his hand into a type of handling he had seen assassins in the movies use, his entire body simultaneously moving into a defensive stance.

“Noiz…?”

What the hell was he talking about?

Then it clicked.

“…You _knew_ …?” he breathed, doubt setting in as he remembered every last interaction with the blond. Was it all so he could get closer and kill him easily…?

Before he had the chance to dwell on it further, Noiz made the first move and lunged for Aoba, who just barely managed to step back enough for the blade to graze his chest.

“Augh!” Aoba cried out in pain, stumbling back a bit to dodge the second strike. The cut against his chest was shallow but, God, it _burned_. A warm stickiness began to soak through his shirt just as he ducked and instinctively swept his foot under Noiz’s knees. The blond fumbled though quickly regained his balance, launching himself down to drive the knife into Aoba’s shoulder. At this he **_SCREAMED_** , the noise escaping his throat sounding entirely inhuman, screeching like an animal caught in a trap.

And then, without warning, it was like he wasn’t in his own body anymore.

Aoba pushed Noiz off of him as a searing pain in his shoulder blades tore through him, and suddenly everything was hot and it burned yet at the same time he felt nothing but a sweet numbing down his spine. Hues of purples and reds filled his vision as he wrapped his body in this strange heat that reminded him somewhat of the wings belonging to angels and faeries in the stories told during what little of his childhood he could remember, moving on their own yet in just the way Aoba wanted them to. He glared Noiz down, his mouth beginning to salivate as his heightened senses took in the blond’s scent. He took the initiative this turn and dove for Noiz, just barely registering the look of genuine surprise on the blond’s face, the wings giving a fleshly sound as they flapped and knocked them both out of Noiz’s window.

What exactly happened while airborne was a blur; all he knew was that he had landed right on his stab wounds onto the asphalt, and Noiz was recovering onto shaky legs just a few meters away, shards of broken glass strewn all around them like a crystalline shower. He knew some bones were broken, yet the pain was quickly fading away and he could gradually begin to feel them like normal. Their eyes met while Aoba laid on the ground, a mutual coldness and lust for blood.

Noiz was just about to take a step towards the other when Aoba started to push himself up onto his hands and knees, his elbows buckling somewhat under the weight. Noiz went on the defensive, staying put but ready to strike. He watched as Aoba slowly, surely, pushing himself up onto his feet. He almost lost his footing, and despite the shards of glass everywhere around them and even some in Noiz’s flesh, the only obvious wounds he could see were the ones he inflicted himself.

Aoba weakly clutched at the deep wound on his shoulder, glaring at Noiz with a dying fire in his eyes. The wings sprouting from his back began to shrivel and break away into pieces – feathers drifting away in the wind. His bloodied hand fell from his shoulder, and his eyes rolled into the back of his sockets, his knees crumbling below him as the fading remains of his wings withered into nothing.

Aoba began to sway, to fall to the ground, eyelids clos–

Before Noiz could even blink, a cloaked figure bounded in front of him like a gazelle and scooped Aoba up, cradling him as it pounced into the shadows just beyond the street lights.

Just like that, they were both gone.

Noiz clicked his tongue in frustration, fiddling with a small shard in his arm in an attempt to remove it. Once it was freed, he flicked it onto the ground as his free hand pulled his phone from his pocket; miraculously, it was completely undamaged. He pressed a single number on the keypad before bringing it up to his ears.

“Heisenhower. I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news,” he started once a voice on the other end picked up. “The good news is that Aoba Seragaki has been confirmed to be Eagle Eye, without a doubt. We know exactly who to look for now, we can call off any investigations on other suspects. The bad news…”

He trailed off as he approached his bloodied knife mixed in the shards of glass, somehow winding up below a bush amongst the fighting. He knelt down to the best of his ability to retrieve it; flashes of the cloaked figure burned their images into his mind.

He knew this cloak. They all did.

“…it seems someone else wanted to join the party.” He paused, listening to the other person’s inquiries. “It was the Wolf. Don’t know where he came from or why he decided to show himself now.”

He pulled the phone away as shouts echoed through the receiver.

“The point _is_ ,” he continued, effectively shutting the other person up so he could bring the phone back to his ear, “we’re in deep shit. Eagle Eye and the Wolf are both Rank S ghouls, not to mention they’re both suspected to have originated from Ground Zero.”

Ground Zero.

He paused as his mind processed what he had been taught about this particular incident in training. Ground Zero was where this whole fuckery with Aoba and this cloaked asshole began. Certain details stuck out as he recalled specific reasons why this investigation was so dire, a chill traveling down his spine as he thought about the potential consequences of two dangerous ghouls teaming up.

“We need to find them. Now.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I worry I may be progressing this story a bit too quickly but really, nothing goes right for Aoba as soon as shit starts hitting the fan. It just gets worse and worse and worse. :(


	3. Who Is That Inside Of Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened at Ground Zero?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before, I'm a little worried I may be accelerating the plot a bit too quickly. I'm also not sure how I feel about this chapter, but it gives some insight on what happened at Ground Zero as well as introduces two of the above characters, so yay~
> 
> There's also some spoilers regarding the actual series Tokyo Ghoul as the events that transpired there are referenced here.

When his eyelids fluttered open some time later, Aoba found himself in an unfamiliar room. His body was warm from the sheets he was tucked into, the light on the table beside the bed illuminating this strange place. It was a calm sort of quiet, any activity outside muted and distant.  
  
“Aoba.”  
  
A deep voice softly called him, startling him and drawing his attention to the other side of the bed. His own glazed hazel met sharp gold, gazing down at him with the same sort of gentleness he had come to know from Tae.  
  
This person beside him bore furrowed eyebrows of concern, mouth slightly parted and gaze transfixed upon the man in his bed. Ebony hair with a tint of a deep blue cascaded past his ears almost down to his shoulders, which were broad and only partially concealed by a black tank top.  
  
It seemed like an eternity had passed before Aoba finally spoke. “Wha...Who are you?”  
  
A sigh of relief left the other man's mouth.  
  
“At least you are able to speak...I was concerned for your well-being. Your body was injured rather badly.”  
  
“My body, wh--” It all suddenly came back to him like a tidal wave crashing on the shore: eating that woman, bidding his final good-bye to Tae, fending Noiz off.  
  
“You do not seem to remember much now. What matters, though, is that you are safe now,” the man faintly smiled as he rose from his seat. Aoba's eyes followed his form across the room as he stepped to the dresser by the door, soon returning to his side with a mug in hand.  
  
Aoba winced as he sat up before an enticing aroma filled his nostrils. Face scrunched into an expression of confusion, he leaned over to take a closer look at what was in the mug.  
  
“Coffee?” He looked back up at the man, the look in his eyes demanding an explanation.  
  
“It's one of the only things we are able to eat,” he clarified, handing the mug over to Aoba. The blue-haired man took it graciously, feeling the heat warm up his fingers. He suddenly registered what the stranger had said and paused half-way to bringing the mug up to his lips, giving him a raised eyebrow.  
  
“'We'?”

 

* * *

 

“Weh-ell, here comes the brat that fucked everything up! Nice job, kid!”  
  
“Shut up.” Noiz brushed past the bastard with a scar across his face, paying no mind to his presence when he followed. It was the morning two days after his encounter with Eagle Eye. His wounds, shallow as they were, were bandaged up and his attire was switched for his Dove uniform of a white dress shirt, black tie and slacks, and loafers.  
  
This old man was dressed similarly. The building was full of bustling agents scrambling this way and that, muttering about what to do about these “damn ghouls” and what have you. It was unusually lively, which he had to suppose was due in part to that night's activities.  
  
“C'mon, don't pout. Thanks to your efforts in actually finding the piece of shit, we're holding a meeting in ten minutes to review what we know and come up with a plan. Two Rank S ghouls doesn't spell good news any way you look at it,” his teammate sighed, brushing his bangs back in frustration; Noiz just happened to glance over to see the tattoos on his face he kept concealed behind his hair before they were veiled once more.  
  
“There's been a rumor going around that the CCG has some new type of weapon up their sleeve,” he continued. “They say it may be even more effective than our quinques. If this meeting is what I think it is, they may be revealing this new weapon then.”  
  
Interesting.  
  
“Heisenhower! Akajima!” A gruff voice belonging to one of their supervisors rang from their left. The other man stiffened out of respect for his superior, though Noiz stayed slack. “Here's some of the briefing we'll be going over in the meeting. Heisenhower, as you're the one who actually encountered both Eagle Eye and the Wolf, we'll be needing your testimony.”  
  
“ _What_ testimony?” Noiz scoffed dryly. “I already told the board everything that had happened: I had managed to subdue Eagle Eye but before I could secure him the Wolf came out of nowhere and took him. There's nothing else to say.”  
  
“It's just protocol, Heisenhower,” their superior waved off as he turned to head down a nearby hallway. Noiz mumbled a _'whatever'_ under his breath.  
  
Which was met with a firm knuckle to the back of his head.  
  
“Let's get going, brat. And make sure to show at least a _little_ bit of respect to your superiors, would ya?” He frowned as he followed suit and began walking down the hall.  
  
“Whatever you say, old man.” Noiz rubbed at the sore spot before following the other.  
  
"Oi, it's either Koujaku-san or Akajima to _you_."  
  
In the large board room, the two sat together towards the front left. There was some bustling behind them of people still making their way into the room, but after a few minutes everything died down as the team lead made his way up to the speaker's podium.  
  
“ _SIT DOWN, ALL OF YOU!_ ”  
  
Noiz and his partner winced at the volume and how his voice pierced their eardrums through the intercom system linked to the microphone. That was Akushima for you.  
  
He cleared his throat before going on. “Our agenda for this meeting is to enlighten the lot of you on recent developments regarding the investigation of one Rank S ghoul, Eagle Eye.”  
  
Hushed murmurs scattered throughout the otherwise quiet room at the mention of Eagle Eye.  
  
“Our own Wilhelm Heisenhower has managed to identify this ghoul's persona. As you'll see in the notes that were provided prior to this meeting, pinpointing the exact identity this ghoul took on after Ground Zero was nearly impossible. Heisenhower, your testimony.”  
  
“ _Noiz_ is fine,” Noiz responded before standing and adjusting the small microphone attached to his tie just before entering the briefing room. He gathered the notes he had submitted to the board before beginning.  
  
“Two nights ago, at two thirty-four in the morning, authorities were alerted of a disturbance in a small residential neighborhood. They happened upon what remained of a young woman, Aiko Tadahashi, aged twenty-four, in an alley. Witnesses who heard the disturbance testify that the woman was being pursued by a man, age unknown; some claim to have heard a third party, also male, age unknown. The body of Ms. Tadahashi was mutilated, clothes torn and mostly gone save for her bones, upper torso, and head. This was, without a doubt, the work of a ghoul.  
  
“This neighborhood happened to be in the general area of one suspected Aoba Seragaki, age twenty-three. I had been investigating Seragaki for some time prior to these events, and while this alone does not confirm suspicions of being a ghoul, he had presented to me evidence. As you'll see in the notes provided, there are images of what resembles food left in containers he had brought. After the incident that followed, I gathered these containers and had our lab run tests.” He paused, his stomach still doing a flip even two days after what had happened.  
  
“They came back positive for remains of human flesh. Expertly prepared to throw off any suspicion.”  


Mutters of disgust and horror rang throughout the meeting room, growing louder as the information sank into everyone's minds. Akushima screeched his intercom into the microphone to silence them.  
  
“I had been interacting with Seragaki for some months, trying to pick up on anything that may have given him away,” he continued once the noise had died down. “In order to do so, I had to get close; play friends, you could say. That night he approached me for reasons I can only begin to guess why. At seeing an opportunity as there were no civilians around at risk for collateral damage, I attempted to finish him off there. Unfortunately, he had picked up on my intentions and defended himself.  
  
“It was when he was wounded severely by my quinque that he began to show his true ghoul self. When his kagune was brought out during our conflict, he had revealed himself to be a ghoul that possesses an ukaku, as his kagune morphed into the form of wings. For the first time, he took the offensive and threw us both out of the third-story window to my place of residence.  
  
“It seemed my efforts had managed to weaken him as his kagune began to break apart and his footing was uneasy. He was just about to fall into unconsciousness when,” he paused to gulp and refresh his mouth which had grown dry from speaking. “When a cloaked figure appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Eagle Eye, and left without a trace.”  
  
He set down the notes back onto the long desk in front of him.  
  
“This figure bore the cloak of one Wolf, another Rank S ghoul the CCG has been searching for since the events of Ground Zero. It's safe to assume that the Wolf and Eagle Eye are working together. We will need to take extra precautions when pursuing them.”  
  
Without giving any sort of proper closing, Noiz took his seat. His partner beside him gave him a raised eyebrow. “Is that all?”  
  
“That's all.”  
  
Just as commotion in the room began to rise, the lights shut off and a projected image of an old building appeared on a large screen at the front of the room. Confused murmurs spread, and it seemed nobody knew of this place or where it was located.  
  
“In addition to these recent developments regarding the investigation of Eagle Eye, we have also stumbled upon video footage of the events that transpired at Ground Zero, which was secluded off in a remote building out in the country-side,” Akushima announced, clicking a button on the remote in his hand to begin playing the video. The image immediately changed to a large room full of people moving around and talking amongst themselves. Through the grain, everything seemed like a normal laboratory.  
  
Except...  
  
“A-Aren't those all _children_?!” someone in the darkness exclaimed. Noiz and his partner kept their eyes on the screen.  
  
Not much about Ground Zero had been known amongst the CCG except that a certain event triggered the release of certain Rank S ghouls onto the world fifteen years ago. Everything they were seeing here was new information.  
  
“The board has already reviewed these tapes, as well as any notes they were able to find along with them. Finding the exact location of Ground Zero was hard work in and of itself as it was, and when they managed to find this new evidence, it was a huge breakthrough all around. We were able to take a blueprint of the building and match each tape to the exact location it was recording,” Akushima explained.  
  
“Here, this is one of the testing rooms. We have yet to identify the organization behind these experiments, however it is safe to say that these scientists we see here were in the same organization as Doctor Akihiro Kanou, who was the one responsible for the half-ghoul Centipede who appeared over twenty years ago. The children you see here were all born in the lab. None of them can be exactly classified as 'human'.”  
  
Noiz swallowed nervously, eyes scanning the display before him. _This_ was where Aoba Seragaki began.  
  
Without warning, the footage switched to an even larger room, full of children and toys with scientists monitoring them.  
  
“This was the recreational room for these children. Here, they're playing together and acting generally as kids are wont to do. It can be assumed that they are monitoring these children to confirm their behavior and compare it to those created naturally.” Akushima looked up to the screen just as one scientist with black slicked hair and glasses approached a pair of kids – one with long blue hair, the other with short black hair – and ushered for the smaller of the two.  
  
Noiz immediately recognized the shade of blue.  
  
“This child the man had picked and is now leading to a testing room was identified as Case 0422. _This_ is Eagle Eye.”  
  
“He's just a kid!” another person exclaimed.  
  
“What the hell kind of organization tests on kids?! This is fucking sick!”  
  
They were silenced a bit when the image changed again, to where the scientist had placed Aoba onto a clinical table in one of the smaller rooms bearing a striking resemblance to a pediatrician's office.  
  
“Notes regarding Case 0422 described him as a quiet child, shy, prone to crying–“  
  
All of which fit Aoba perfectly.  
  
“-- and generally weak overall. They had performed many tests in the attempts to unlock his ghoul powers, however they had all ended in failure. He did not handle any of these tests well, and it was speculated it may have hindered his growth as a hybrid. They noted that if they were unable to activate them after this test we see here, he was to be terminated.”  
  
As if on cue, the Aoba in the video began to visibly grow panicked when the scientist called over his subordinates to subdue him. Noiz watched as Aoba's child-self struggled against the restraints, as tears formed in his eyes when a blade bearing a familiar glow – a quinque – came into view.  
  
Suddenly, as though the video had skipped a second, one of the nurses had lost her head, blood spurting all over the others and coating the sterile walls with a dark red. The visual panic in the people on the screen matched the noises Noiz and his partner could hear behind them.  
  
Aoba had broken out of his restraints, his ukaku sprouting from his shoulder blades.  
  
Before anyone else in the footage could move, he lunged forward and tore through one nurse's torso, gnawing at her stomach. After just one bite, he turned to those remaining in the room.  
  
The video grew static after he bolted towards them.  
  
“This is where the footage for this particular room – actually, for the entire building, goes offline for about twenty minutes. This may have been for the best, as when the surveillance comes back online...” his voice trailed off as the footage came back to show the recreational room in total disaster.  
  
There were bodies, both of children and adults, strewn about, limbs thrown this way and that, blood pooling all over. If nobody was given any context behind this footage, one would guess it was a scene from the darkest of slasher films ever produced.  
  
In the middle of the room, there was Aoba, hunched over another small figure – if Noiz squinted hard enough, he recognized it as the other child from earlier in the video – chewing on one of their arms. His ukaku was large and vibrant, though as he continued to eat, it began to shrink and dissolve.  
  
It suddenly dawned on Noiz that Aoba had eaten another ghoul in the past, maybe even more than just the child he was devouring now in the video.  
  
“If Eagle Eye is eating another ghoul, wouldn't that–“

“That is _exactly_ the reason why Eagle Eye is without a doubt a Rank S ghoul. When ghouls resort to cannibalism, they not only grow stronger from the other's kagune, but they tend to become mentally unstable. What we essentially have here is a ghoul with the power and mental instability that rivals that of Centipede, set loose onto the world for the last fifteen years.”  
  
“So what are you saying, that this thing is even _more_ dangerous than we initially thought?!”  
  
“What the hell were these people thinking?!”  
  
Tuning out the protests and questions erupting behind him, Noiz wracked through his brain trying to put the pieces of what he knew and what he just learned together.  
  
Eagle Eye and the Wolf were suspected to both originate from Ground Zero.  
  
Eagle Eye was suspected – then confirmed – to be Aoba Seragaki, due to past incidents in his neighborhood's general area.  
  
Somehow, Eagle Eye – Aoba – managed to remain under the radar without exposing himself.  
  
If he had to guess, judging by how often he ate his grandmother's meals and now knowing exactly what they were, it's possible Aoba may be a binge-eater ghoul, which makes the last point even more peculiar.

Despite the sheer power he had witnessed that night and just moments ago even as a child, Aoba did not seem to want to fight.  
  
He was afraid of Noiz.  
  
He did not want to hurt Noiz.  
  
He didn't retaliate until he needed to, and even when he did, he didn't seem to have a full grasp on his kagune.  
  
He's had fifteen years since Ground Zero to get his powers in check, yet he acted as though he had never needed to use them before.  
  
It clicked.  
  
_Was...Aoba Seragaki not even aware of himself? This whole time?_  
  
“Worry not, agents. I'm sure you've heard rumors, but the CCG has been working on a new weapon to combat exactly this,” Akushima announced as some man in a black suit Noiz was sure he had seen in passing but didn't recognize came to the front of the room pushing a large, covered box on a dollie.  
  
“Underneath this curtain lies what will change the course of our on-going war with the ghouls. While this may be just a prototype, we will be using it out on the field to undergo the first of what will hopefully be many tests against a real ghoul.”  
  
The man in the black suit lifted the veil. There, within a box made of glass, stood a man. His eyes were closed, partially concealed behind his bangs which were white like the first of winter's snow. He, too, was wearing a black suit.  
  
There was a small wave of hushed questions and confusion before Noiz spoke up, “What exactly will this man do to help our cause? Are we testing on humans, too?”  
  
“Quite the opposite! Kihihihihi~!” Akushima cackled. As if on cue, the man's eyes fluttered open, revealing his bright pink irises.  
  
“Agents! I present to you the first in our series of advanced weaponry against the ghoul scourge! This is R-2E-054. This 'man' is an android devised by the most brilliant technological minds in the CCG. His skin has regenerative abilities similar to a ghoul's, as well as his entire skeletal structure being composed of a base similar to the RC cells that make up a ghoul's kagune. He is, essentially, a living quinque.”  
  
R-2E-054 blinked and looked around the room, seeming to memorize everyone's faces. Upon turning to Noiz, their gazes locked. There was a slight flicker in his eyes, as though he was registering Noiz's identity.  
  
A small smile came to his face.  
  
“Heisenhower. Akajima. As you two are the leading agents regarding the Eagle Eye case, you will be monitoring R-2E-054's progress and performance out in the field.” Akushima leaned in their direction to give them the nastiest stink-eye either had ever seen. “Don't. Fuck. This. Up.”  
  
“Hey, if you're worried about either of us screwing anything up, it's this bean sprout here,” Koujaku elbowed him in the side, sending him a sideways glare.  
  
“Shut up, old man.”  
  
“Excuse me, Wilhelm Heisenhower-san?” An unfamiliar, gentle voice called their attention back to the front of the room. R-2E-054 was staring right at them, that smile still upon his face. It only grew once his eyes had locked back with Noiz's.  
  
“It's a pleasure to be working with you.”  


 

* * *

  
  
“I see...so, then you are a gh-...one of them, too, right?” Aoba swallowed, nerves and senses hyper-aware as he stared back at the stranger. His fingers rubbed anxiously against the mug in his hands.  
  
“Correct. However, you and I are not the same as the other ghouls residing in this city. We are, for lack of a better term, half-lings. We are not complete ghouls.”  
  
“Huh...” Aoba glanced away briefly, recalling that in his reflection only his right eye had changed. He had never encountered another ghoul before, but with this news, he could safely assume that full-ghouls had both eyes change when hungry or on the offensive.  
  
A hand placed gently upon his covered leg brought Aoba back out of his thoughts. He looked back to the stranger to find that gentle tenderness back in his features.  
  
“I'm so glad to find you are okay, Aoba. I'd been looking for you for so long...only to find you were living life happily, without any cares or fears. How could I approach you and take you away from all of that?” A warm, yet almost pained, smile crept upon his lips. “Even if you don't remember me, or anything in our past, that is fine. As long as you are safe.”  
  
Aoba gulped, oddly touched that this stranger, despite Aoba not knowing him at all, was looking after him. He should have been nervous, but...there was _something_ about this man's scent, so similar to his own and so familiar, like he had recognized it from a distant dream.  
  
He truly did feel safe.  
  
“Heh...this is weird,” Aoba chuckled nervously, glancing to the side again. “You seem to know so much about me and what I am, but I don't have the faintest clue who the hell _you_ are.”  
  
His gaze returned to the man before him.  
  
“Mind starting with your name?”  
  
He nodded, relieved. “I used to be called a case number, same as you," he began. "But you didn't like that, how we were just numbers...so we came up with our own names. Mine wa-”  
  
Without any warning whatsoever, a part at the base of Aoba's skull shot like fire through his nerves, and he jolted where he sat. Time froze as bits and pieces of some past he never knew came rushing back; he remembered a sterile room, other children, strange men in white coats.  
  
A boy with the same black hair and golden eyes.  
  
Aoba returned to the present, the stranger staring intently at him at noticing how he suddenly stiffened. His own gaze landed on the stranger's face, taking it all in as a warmth filled his gut and up his chest. His heart wanted to burst from his ribcage, and tears that stung too harshly, too hotly to feel streamed down his cheeks.  
  
He hated this sudden influx of emotions, of this man he didn't remember.  
  
“...Ren...”  
  
Of his best friend.  
  
Ren gasped silently, taken aback at the shuddered whisper of his name. “Aoba...?”  
  
“Ren...” Aoba repeated, happening to glance down at a faint scar on his right wrist, and suddenly it became too hard to breathe, thoughts racing and his clothing constricting him. Images of the Ren he once knew, long ago, fluttered throughout his mind, growing distorted and melted with images of blood, of flesh, of people screaming and dying and being torn apart, of Tae forcing him his medicine, of Ren staring up at him with dead eyes as he--  
  
“AAAAA _AAUUUUU_ _ **UUUGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!**_ ” Aoba screamed through a closed throat, clutching at his head and sending the mug of coffee to crash on the floor beside the bed.  
  
“Aoba!” Ren placed his hands onto Aoba's shoulders in a panicked attempt to stabilize him. It did little good; Aoba's lithe form was shaking violently enough to rock the bed frame against the floor and wall.  
  
“ _Aoba_!!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aoba has regained some of his memories (which are hinted to have been suppressed by the medicine Tae made him take growing up), and Noiz is starting to have some conflicts within himself about hating a ghoul who didn't even know what he was.


	4. I Can't Move, Can't Move, Can't Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truths that both seek are gradually coming to light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not 100% pleased with this, but we're finally getting the ball rolling again, if just a bit.

It's fifteen years in the past, in the laboratory's play room. The air is stiff, sterile, and there's the low hum of adults chattering and the delighted shrieks of children playing; tiny footsteps pattered against the cold tiles, laughter echoing and meshing into a mess of sound against the barren walls.

“Hey, Ren! Look at this!” Aoba excitedly ran up to his best friend, a sheet of paper with slightly crumpled edges in his tiny hands. The other boy looked up from his toys laid in front of him, golden eyes wide and bright with curiosity. Aoba stood in front of him, arms jutting out to show off the picture he drew, chest puffed with pride.  
  
His mouth scrunched a bit, and he tilted his head in slight confusion at the puddle of colors haphazardly thrown together before him. “Abstract?”  
  
“I-It's not abstract!” Aoba cried in protest, a blush lightly dusting his cheeks along with his pout. His fingers gently gripped the paper tighter, creating more creases. “It's supposed to be you and me! See, there's me-” he pointed to the blob of blue, “-and there's you!” His finger slid over to the vague black shape between the blue and a spot of drown.  
  
“What's that?” Ren directed Aoba's attention to the brown.  
  
“Oh, that's a dog! You kind of remind me of one, but I didn't know how to make you look like a dog so I had you playing with one, instead!” The boy grinned. Ren couldn't help but blink in confusion, before a gentle smile graced his face. The world around them distorted into static, flashing in a second so quickly it practically never happened.  
  
“You're so weird, Aoba.”

“Like you're one to talk!” Aoba huffed as he sat down beside his friend. “Anyway, what are you doing?”  
  
“Just playing,” Ren replied simply, turning his attention back to the small cars on the tile in front of them. He leaned over and grabbed the one colored a midnight blue.  
  
“Huh...” The younger one hummed, watching quietly as Ren rolled the car back and forth. After a moment, he glanced up and looked around the room, to the other children. Despite lots of them playing together, it seemed only he and Ren were left alone – ignored.  
  
“I managed to swipe the red one for you.” Ren's voice broke the silence, bringing Aoba back to the friend sitting beside him. He was met with a hand only slightly bigger than his own extended out to him, cradling an even smaller red car in its palm. “Akira always keeps it to himself, but I know how much you like it so I got to the toy chest before he did.”

  
_“Number 0422, it's time for yo̶u҉r e͠xa͜m͘i̷n͞átion.”_

  
  
Aoba blinked before his expression brightened. “Thanks, Ren!”

_Wait._

Ren's smile only grew at that, and he slid his blue car over towards Aoba as he made soft ' _beep beep_ 's under his breath. The car slid over a small pool of red, though Ren didn't seem to notice, his hand never faltering as it trailed behind the tiny wheels.  
  
Aoba responded by sliding his own car over to Ren, a nasily ' _vroooooom_ ' as he scrunched his face with how intense this one-man race suddenly became.  
  
“Oh, no! Suddenly the Red Rider has gone waaaay off-course!” He cried out in mock surprise, the car flying over himself and Ren like a rocket.  
  
He paid no mind to the deep red slowly pooling down the pristine, white walls around the room, his eyes focused on the car in his hands. His body was burning alive from the inside, he knew; but he was numb to it.  
  
“Is he going to make it?!”  
  
“Don't worry, Red Rider. The Dark Danger will save you!” Ren mimicked his tone, his own car flying around above them. They made rocket ship noises in between little pleas and gasps of surprise, lost in their own little world as the Dark Danger flew right next to the Red Rider, nudging him out of the way of an asteroid in the nick of time!

_This isn't right._

And then the Red Rider and Dark Danger were safely on the ground, racing alongside each other in a friendly competition. The room around them grew quiet, the other children strewn about like chunks of meat, the adults torn to unrecognizable shreds, and soon it was just the two of them, alone, in a sea of red.

 _“_ _Is that all you e͜a̴t̴?”_

_  
Is what all I e̴҉a͏t̛̛?_

_**E͞҉́͡á̷̕t͠҉̡̧.̴̵͟͏** _

  
Red. R _e_ d. _It was all **redredredredredred**_.  
  
“Is this fine, Aoba?”

_“Aoba, you need to take your medicine.”_

Aoba looked over from the car in his hands over to the boy beside him, his golden eyes staring wide at him expectantly. He didn't notice the red pouring down half of Ren's face, or the dullness that formed in his eyes, or the stickiness on his own fingertips.  
  
All he registered was the hot sweetness on his tongue, the gentle warmth of skin upon his lips as his teeth dug into the tenderness. A sliver of meat slid down the back of his throat, doing nothing to sate the hunger in his gut, but he bit down again and again.  
  
Tears poured down his face.

  
_Is it?_

But he didn't stop.

  
*** * ***

  
Aoba's body jolted upright, sweat clinging the hair framing his face to his forehead and cheeks. The sudden movement startled Ren, who remained sitting in a chair beside the bed. “Aoba.”  
  
At hearing his name, Aoba turned towards Ren, his breathing slowly but surely returning to a normal pace. He closed his eyes, furrowing his brow and shutting them tightly to ward off the nightmare he had just awoken from.  
  
And yet...  
  
“Ren.” The man hummed in response to acknowledge Aoba. “...I remember.”  
  
“Oh?” Ren shifted forward in his seat, eyes widening with interest and concern, with a hint of anticipation.  
  
“Yeah. Like...it all kind of melded together, I guess,” Aoba began, a hand raising to rub at his temple as he hissed. “ _Jesus_ , how long was I out for?”  
  
“A couple hours. Would you happen to know what triggered it?”  
  
At this, Aoba looked over to Ren. His mouth twisted, both in disgust and in shame, as the last thing he could remember from that bloodbath flashed in his mind, trying not to draw his gaze down to the scar on Ren's wrist. It was hard, but he exhaled and glanced away. “...No. I don't.”  
  
“I see.”  
  
A moment of uncomfortable silence lingered between them, and finally, unable to stand it any longer, Aoba shifted over towards Ren. Ren remained frozen in his seat, hands gently cradling his cheeks and eyes meeting Aoba's own hazel. They were glassy and wide, and then Aoba let slip a shaky breath.  
  
“Where have you been...?”  
  
Ren sighed, eyes closing as he leaned into Aoba's touch and lifted a hand to grasp a gentle hold of Aoba's cheek. “...That's not important. What matters is that you're okay.”  
  
“Ren...” Aoba exhaled a shaky breath, leaning over to leave a gentle, apologetic peck on the scar he had left so long ago. “Where do we go from here? We're not safe, there are people hunting us down.”  
  
“We'll go wherever you want, Aoba. I'll be there to protect you this time,” Ren spoke softly, the other hand coming up to gently pet the top of Aoba's head. It didn't do much otherwise, but the comforting touch after so much shit happening in the last few days did ease his worries if only slightly. Aoba closed his eyes as he relished in the touch.  
  
Ren's fingers wove through Aoba's hair, careful to not snag, as he eyed the cuts on Aoba's shirt; the wounds had long been healed.  
  
“...I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner. I won't let it happen again.”  
  
Aoba didn't notice the stream of tears pouring down his own face.  
  


* * *

  
  
After the meeting, Noiz and Koujaku met with Akushima and the android labeled R-2E-054, the room quiet save for the low murmur of a few stragglers staying behind for their own discussion. Noiz kept his hands dug deep into his pants pockets, watching with disinterest as his partner circled around the android in observation.  
  
“Jesus, this thing looks like a real human being. It's creepy,” Koujaku muttered, leaning back once he finished investigating this new...”weapon”, which stood stiff and seemed quite uncomfortable with the treatment.  
  
“Akajima-san, that's not a very nice thing to say,” R-2E-054 lightly chastised, eyebrows furrowed in worry.  
  
“Oye, boss.” Noiz directed his attention over to Akushima before he continued with, “What _is_ the deal with this? Our normal quinques work just fine, so why bother?”  
  
“With this new technology, we can severely decrease the number of casualties our department faces when taking one of those bastards down,” Akushima replied in a surprisingly calm voice, arms folded over his chest. “And it cost the department a _shitload_ of money, so try not to destroy it.”  
  
“No promises,” Noiz shrugged. “Both of those ghouls are Rank S, remember? Not to mention, we know practically next to nothing about them. Who even knows what they're capable of.”  
  
When Noiz turned to look back at the android, he jolted when a pair of bright pink eyes gazed into his own _right in front_ of his face. They locked gazes for a few awkward minutes, R-2E-054's stare not once wavering, a small smile plastered on his face.  
  
“...Can I help you.” Noiz deadpanned.  
  
“Wilhelm Heisenhower-san, age 19. Born June 13 th, blood type B, approximately 179 centimeters in height. You were born in Munich, Germany and your family consists of a mother, a father, and a younger brother two years your junior. You're highly athletic and you have a surprisingly high pain tolerance which is what made you the perfect candidate for the Commission of Counter Ghoul.” R-2E-054 spouted off all of this information in rapid succession, the color draining slowly from Noiz's face as he kept going.  
  
“What the hell, how do you know all of this?”  
  
“R-2E-054's database has been loaded with information regarding every agent we have in the system,” Akushima explained.  
  
“Well, it's fucking creepy.”  
  
“I _knew_ I wasn't the only one who thought so!” Koujaku chimed in.  
  
“Additionally,” their superior continued, “any DNA samples we've managed to collect from ghouls have been loaded into his database, as well. He'll be able to track down any ghoul within a 50-mile radius by monitoring their hair and skin follicles in the air, kind of like sharks with blood.”  
  
' _Scary_ ' was the word that flitted through Noiz and Koujaku's minds.  
  
“He reacts to commands and conversation the same way as a human does and his computing system is advanced enough that he can make his own decisions based on probability and calculations and other shit. Now git out there and track those two bastards down!” Akushima ordered before he jogged past them to catch up with a group of higher-ups that passed by the boardroom's open doorway.  
  
Koujaku and Noiz looked at each other before they turned their gazes towards R-2E-054; after a moment, Koujaku sighed out a, “Well, we'd better get going. Akushima'll have our asses if he comes back and sees we're still here.”  
  
The three of them made their way down the hall, around the corner, through the lobby until they were outside of the CCG's main building. It was a bit dark out with the clouds overcast over the city, a slight breeze chilling the air.  
  
“Wow, the sky looks amazing~!” R-2E-054 exclaimed in amazement, earning a raised eyebrow from his two partners as well as the curious and disturbed glances of several passerby's. They merely looked at each other before leading the way down the street to head to the local convenience store to grab some supplies before the hunt.  
  
Noiz and Koujaku couldn't help but notice the way the android would tail closely behind the blond, eyes locked on him as though he had a target on the back of his head. They exchanged a nervous glance in secret, when suddenly R-2E-054 stopped dead in his tracks, staring down a road.  
  
“Hm?” The two men paused in their steps a few feet ahead, turning back to look at the android.  
  
A tiny light flickered in his eyes, a soft whirring sound of fans and gears turning – scanning the area, they figured. As though he were a man possessed, R-2E-054 began to walk with purpose down the street, paying the other two absolutely no mind. Regardless, Noiz and Koujaku changed course and followed the white-haired robot. It took passing by a few streets and turning some-odd corners, but Noiz recognized this place.  
  
They were in Aoba's neighborhood.  
  
“What's up?” Koujaku inquiried, absolutely confused about the android's sudden change in demeanor.  
  
“A suspect of great importance has been here recently. I am tracking their trail,” he replied, and suddenly his partners were reminded of the fact that this was, indeed, an automaton by the monotonous way he spoke while analyzing.  
  
It didn't much longer for Noiz to realize that where they were headed was the place of a gruesome murder only a few days prior.  
  
“Oye, isn't this where they found that ghoul attack victim? Ah, Tadahashi-san, wasn't it?” Koujaku brought to light as they stopped in _that_ alley, right in front of a small area against a brick wall sectioned off by police tape. R-2E-054 knelt down in front of the space, eyes locked and focused on the exact spot they found the body.  
  
“That is correct, Akajima-san. The case files state that the victim was devoured almost entirely by a ghoul, however they have yet to identify which ghoul it was that was,” he clarified.  
  
Actually, given the circumstances, Noiz had a pretty good idea which ghoul it may have been. However, he lacked the evidence.  
  
“So you're tracking the suspect's DNA, then?” the blond asked, shifting his weight to be supported mostly onto one foot. “What've you got?”  
  
R-2E-054 stood upright and blinked, his irises returning to their questionably normal pink. “It seems that the ghoul responsible for this particular attack is the ghoul the Commission of Counter Ghoul has named Eagle Eye, which has since been identified to be one Aoba Seragaki.”  
  
_He knew it_.

Still, some part of him wanted to deny that _Aoba_ was the one who completely tore her to shreds. It just seemed...off.

“So? Where's this shithead now?” Koujaku shoved his hands into his pockets to grab a cigarette and his lighter. Noiz backed away at the cue; he absolutely fucking _hated_ the smell of cigarettes.  
  
“I'll have to scan around, but considering Heisenhower-san's testimony, he shouldn't be out of the city--”  
  
“Okay, let's go ahead and stop right there,” Noiz cut him off, shooting him a glare. “Knock it off with this 'Heisenhower-san' bullshit. It's _Noiz_. Got it?”  
  
Koujaku had to stifle a fit of laughter behind his lit cigarette.  
  
“Very well, Noiz-san.”  
  
Noiz clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes at the honorific. “ _Also_ , saying your model over and over again gets annoying. It's inconvenient. Do you have any other name you'd prefer to go by?”  
  
R-2E-054 merely shook his head. “This model number is the only form of identification the Commission of Counter Ghoul has granted me. Is there a name you'd prefer to refer to me by, Noiz-san?”  
  
The blond only looked to Koujaku, who gave him a shrug in return. He sighed and turned his attention back to the android. “Not off the top of my head. Once I think of something, though, I'll let you know.”  
  
A smile of relief came to the robot's face – strange, all things considered. “That's wonderful to hear. I'll be awaiting my new title, Noiz-san.”

 


	5. Breaking Down, And I Can't Breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a certain hunger that no amount of meat can sate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aoba is admittedly a bit selfish here, and the reason why I'm okay with that is because I 100% understand his feelings, the need to be held and loved regardless of who it is simply because someone IS holding you and loving you. Basically, the sex in this chapter is meant to be painful, not steamy.
> 
> That being said, I placed some subtle dark undertones regarding Aoba and Ren. Can you figure out what they are?

It had been about a month since Aoba had left his grandmother; it'd been three weeks since he officially moved in full-time with Ren's apartment; two and a half weeks since his memories were regained.  
  
It was painful at first, with the sudden withdrawals from his grandmother's homemade medication (which, he began to suspect, were meant to suppress his memories throughout most of his adolescence as he remembered violent outbursts he had never recalled before), but once his mind was able to process everything, things calmed down. His headaches still came about every now and then, but they never reached the same intensity as they used to.  
  
He didn't smile nearly as much as he used to, either. Nothing seemed to cheer him up.  
  
Aoba was currently laying in Ren's bed, curled into himself and staring absentmindedly into the cellphone in his hands – broken, likely from the fight with Noiz that night. His eyes were drawn to the slightly cracked rabbit charm as it swayed in his shaky grasp.  
  
Noiz...  
  
No matter how many times he had tried to, he just couldn't forget him and despite the fact that Noiz, for whatever reason, had wanted him _dead_...he couldn't bring himself to get over the feelings that began to bud what seemed like so, so long ago. Noiz was the first person he truly considered a “friend”, like he belonged somewhere in this fucked up world.  
  
A warm dampness against the pillow brought him back from his thoughts. He quickly wiped away the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand and a sniffle before he threw himself upright and checked the time.  
  
Ren lived and worked in an area that was considered by what few ghouls still around to be a sort of safe haven; all of the shops – including the cafe he worked at – were run by and supported ghouls or ghoul supporters. These were ordinary people, who surprisingly enough accepted their existence and believed they deserved the same rights as humans. It was law in this community that these allies were off-limits in regards to hunting, and they were protected by the residents from outsiders. Aoba still had a hard time believing that such people even existed, and whenever he thought too hard about it, his thoughts flitted back to his grandmother. It always made him nauseated and so he would try to shake those thoughts away.  
  
It nearing six in the evening, which meant that Ren would be home soon. Being inside of his apartment all day had started to make him restless, but since he was a wanted man, Ren insisted on keeping him at home, safe, until the problem could be “taken care of”. He would leave for work in the morning and return in the evening, giving Aoba is complete undivided attention once he was home, where Aoba typically spent the day cleaning or watching TV.  
  
This was their routine now.  
  
The thought of Ren made his stomach growl; whenever Ren came home, he usually had a slab of meat that Aoba could cook up to his liking and have for dinner. The first few days of living with Ren, he protested against the idea of eating another human, but his appetite had worn down his sense of reason, and Ren assured Aoba with the fact that this meat was from someone who had committed suicide and not murder, and so he ate fairly regularly.  
  
As if on cue, the front door opened, perking Aoba's head up at attention before he pulled himself off the bed and made his way to the living room. “Welcome home, Ren.”  
  
Ren was just removing his work apron when he looked over at Aoba, the shorter man still in his t-shirt and sweatpants from when he left this morning. He nodded in acknowledgment, setting his apron to hang up by the door as he slipped off his shoes before stepping over the gekkan.  
  
“I'm home, Aoba. Thank you.” A gentle smile was shot Aoba's way as a hand raised to run careful fingers through his hair. Aoba couldn't help but lean into the touch, always warm and welcoming. He had grown accustomed to Ren's scent – deliciously human, with a hint of something else that seemed to dispel any desires to consume him – and at times, he even craved the sense of security it seemed to bring.  
  
The moment was interrupted with another low _grrrrgle_ of Aoba's stomach.  
  
Ren laughed lightly at the flourish of red on Aoba's face before he dug into his handbag. “Are you hungry?”  
  
The blue-haired ghoul nodded sheepishly, mouth scrunched together in embarrassment. His features softened as he watched Ren pull a small package wrapped tightly in paper from his bag. His mouth instantly began to salivate, which he quickly wiped away before Ren could notice. He accepted the package in quiet thanks before he turned towards the kitchen to cook it up. “Ah, Ren. Have you already eaten yet?”  
  
“I ate yesterday, so I'm not hungry,” the other replied on his way to the couch. “But thank you for the consideration.”  
  
Aoba merely hummed in response as he got to work. By now, he had gotten the art of cooking meat down pat, to the point where he would usually end up getting lost in his own thoughts as his body moved on its own.  
  
He had the vague sense that he was legitimately depressed.  
  
Once the meat was cooked to just the right temperature – warm, still juicy and firm but tender enough to practically melt in his mouth – he joined Ren on the couch with his plate, fork, and knife. He missed his grandmother's cooking, despite the fact that the reason it always tasted so good was because it was made from _human meat_ ; it was probably the love she put into the meals she made for him.  
  
“Are you feeling okay? You only eat like every other day,” Aoba inquired, cutting off a small piece of the steak.  
  
“Actually, it's normal for ghouls to go for days without eating,” Ren answered, and it suddenly dawned on him that Aoba still didn't know everything there was to know about living as a ghoul. “A single person can sustain us for a month. We think it's because the meat is entirely protein, which helps fuel our bodies and keeps us full.”  
  
“Really?” The morsel was brought up to Aoba's mouth, eyebrows raised slightly. This was certainly strange for him to hear – Aoba was _never_ full.  
  
Ren decided it would be best not to discuss it. Aoba ate in silence.

 

* * *

  
  
Despite Ren's insistence, Aoba slept on the couch most nights.  
  
He didn't think it was fair for him to live with Ren (rent-free, he made sure to add), have Ren feed him, be his support, _and_ take his bed. Granted, there were some nights Aoba woke up screaming from a nightmare – usually of a memory past – and he _needed_ to have Ren console him until he calmed down, and he was reminded of that little boy with genuine eyes and gentle smile from their childhood and the way he would always be there to protect him.  
  
Honestly, Ren's loyalty did remind him of a dog. He sometimes chuckled at the thought.  
  
Tonight, however, Ren wasn't by his side, curling into his back to wrap him up in comforting warmth. No, he was in his bed down the hall from the living room, where Aoba stayed wide awake, laying on his back on the couch and staring up through the darkness at the ceiling. A hand rested on his stomach, slowly rising and falling with his breath. A faint tingling pricked through his nerves and it felt like he was leaving his body, levitating before he came crashing back down. These out-of-body experiences came whenever he mourned the loss of his previous life, began to reject what he was and think about how things could have been.  
  
If he were a human, a _real_ one...would he and Noiz still be friends? Noiz would have no reason to hate him, to want to _kill_ him, and Aoba would have no reason to fear him. It should work, right?  
  
They'd still be able to meet up at the usual spot against the face, he thought. They'd still go to the shopping plaza and get tiny trinkets to share, try to best each other at the arcade, sit down at a restaurant and actually _eat_ together. Noiz would smile and laugh more without having to constantly be on-edge, open up to him; what were Noiz's dreams, his goals in life?  
  
He would be able to have Noiz over for dinner with himself and his grandmother, who would still scold him and look at him with pride and total, unconditional adoration. Or, sometimes he would go over to Noiz's place to play that game he was talking about, or they could watch a movie or even do nothing at all, laying on his couch or the floor as they lay in comfortable silence or quiet discussion about life and what it all meant.  
  
Aoba could have leaned over and left a peck on Noiz's cheek when the moment felt right – God, he could _have_ that moment. And Noiz could lean into the touch, or wrap his arm around him to pull him closer, and reply with his own kiss. He would know what it meant again to feel alive, to have his heart pounding against his ribcage as they kissed, for real, to remind him that he was breathing and he was human and he was with _Noiz_.  
  
These fantasies were gradually replaced with the sting of tears from behind his eyes, in the present, in his reality. A shaky inhale filled his lungs and he simply lay there, wallowing in his own self-pity. He used to touch himself to the thought of being together with someone so intimately, back when things were normal; but now, the very thought of such a thing made his stomach churn in disgust.  
  
He had never before felt so _robbed_.  
  
And he was so wrapped up in his own lamentation that he didn't realize Ren stumbling hurriedly into the room, kneeling beside the couch with a concerned, “Aoba?”  
  
Aoba didn't respond to his words, not at first; instead, he sat up and buried his face into his hands, fighting against the urge to cry _again_. He felt so goddamn pathetic, all he seemed to do anymore was cry and reminisce and wish for the earth to come swallow him, he was too much of a coward to wish for death by his own hand.  
  
A pair of warm, strong arms wrapping around him made his body crumble into the embrace, and he leaned against Ren's chest, into the one place he could truly call home anymore.  
  
This acceptance...this is what he needed. What he longed for.  
  
“Aoba...” Ren sighed, taking extra care not to crush the man in his arms. The small frame shook against him as he breathed.  
  
“...Ren,” Aoba choked out, a bit of composure regained. “I...We're still...human, aren't we?”  
  
Ren didn't know how to answer that.  
  
“You and me, we're not like _them_...right? Not completely?”  
  
He didn't know how to answer that, either.  
  
Aoba leaned further into Ren's body, shutting his eyes tightly to surround himself with Ren's comfort, softness, scent – anything to block it out. Fingers gripped at the front of Ren's shirt, finding solace in the fact that he wasn't completely alone, that he still had someone here to hold him, talk to him. He was being selfish for thinking this, he knew, but...he wished it were Noiz holding him like this.  
  
He could... _pretend_ , at least. Right?  
  
Without a single word spoken, Aoba moved his hands around Ren's built torso to claw at his back, pulling himself even closer against him. He felt his chest jolt against his cheek with a gasp, and Ren tried to pull away only for Aoba to tighten his grip around him.  
  
“Remind me,” he murmured into the fabric. “...remind me of what it means to be human.”  
  
Ren hesitated, glancing down at him nervously while biting his lower lip as he shifted away again; this time, Aoba obliged. “Aoba,” he began. “That's not something I can do. I was never given the gift of humanity like you were.”  
  
Did Aoba _really_ have that gift, though? His humanity was nothing more than a well-executed play, all aspects of his true nature forced aside with drugs and more lies. It was a role he was forced to fill, but for the longest time, he had managed to fill it well.  
  
Before he could argue his case – that he was losing his mind, that it felt like a piece of him was literally ripped right out of his chest and he needed something, anything, to fill the void – Ren had managed to squeeze out of his grasp. With Ren's back turned to him, it sunk in exactly what he was asking and guilt came crashing down on him like a ton of bricks.  
  
“I'm...I'm sorry, Ren,” he spoke meekly, looking away. “I've been selfish...i-if you want, I can leave--”  
  
“ _No_.”  
  
Aoba jolted in his seat, startled by the sudden outburst. Ren turned to look back at him, those golden eyes just as wide and genuine as he had remembered. “No, don't leave. I can't lose you, not again.”  
  
The halfbreed froze, staring at Ren in silence and waiting for him to continue speaking.  
  
“You have no idea how long I've been _praying_ that you would come back,” he shuddered, trying to maintain his composure. “I wanted my best friend back...you were my everything, Aoba. You _still are_. Just having you here, talking to me, it's a blessing I never in a thousand years thought would've come to pass.  
  
“I had been searching for you for so long after you were taken away, after that day at the lab. I fought with others whose territories I passed through, with men who are sent to exterminate us. I...thought the worst. You still hadn't been able to take control of yourself, and if you had died...” He trailed off, chest heaving with labored breaths of desperation.  
  
“And then,” he continued, “I found you. I finally _found_ you. You had met a kind woman who took you in, raised you like her own son and protected you...but you had this vacant look in your eyes, like you weren't really sure of anything. And that's when I realized that you didn't remember what had happened or who you were. So I watched you from afar, making sure you were safe. You've grown up so much since then...”  
  
Aoba was taken back; to think that his childhood friend had been there, in the shadows all this time.  
  
_Just like a dog._  
  
But it would explain how he had managed to rescue him so quickly from Noiz that night.  
  
“I would do anything to keep you happy, to make sure I never lost you again. I would kill for you and I would die for you.” Ren paused to inhale shakily, and Aoba could see that he was fighting the urge to break down. “...But the one thing I _can't_ do is remind you of what it is to be human.”  
  
I love you.  
  
Aoba received the message, loud and clear. He remained where he was for a moment, before he slowly raised a hand towards Ren to gently pet the top of his head. Ren stared at Aoba with glassy eyes, and the two exchanged those awkward glances until they mutually leaned in, Ren burying his face into the front of Aoba's shirt as he held onto him with the intent of never letting go.  
  
He idly stroked Ren's hair, the gentle caresses slowly soothing the man's worries.  
  
And then an idea came to mind.  
  
“...Ren.” He looked up at Aoba, attention grabbed. “There's truly no way for me to be able to thank you. All I've done is hurt you and use you and I feel awful for it. You saved me, you took me in and you keep me fed and warm. So, the least I can do is...”  
  
And he leaned down, his lips gingerly pressing against Ren's forehead, then his cheek, the tip of his nose. “...let you use _me_.”  
  
Ren froze, an incredulous expression on his face. “Aoba, I can't--”

He never got to finish his sentence. Aoba had leaned in to fit their mouths together, pulling Ren in to keep them pressed together. Sweet, Aoba thought. He tasted sweet.  
  
Whatever protests Ren seemed ready to use quickly dissolved away as he registered the feeling of Aoba's soft lips against his own and Aoba's slender fingers tangling in his hair. His own hand lifted to curl around Aoba's jaw, the pad of his thumb lightly massaging his cheek.  
  
A moment that passed far too quickly later, Aoba slowly pulled away. Kissing another person was exactly how he imagined and yet so foreign all at once. He had never kissed anyone before, at least not on the mouth, and the way that Ren's mouth had moved against his felt so right, he couldn't stop himself from leaning in and doing it again.  
  
He tried to imagine the press of phantom piercings digging into his chin as he kissed Ren over and over, both of them getting more into it with every one.  
  
Aoba was suddenly lifted by strong arms, standing with his body pressed flush against Ren's. Ren was a bit too tall, but he didn't really mind the height difference, nor did he mind the way large hands slid down to his waist or the low grumble vibrating against his mouth when Ren groaned deep in his throat. Before he could register just what was going on, Aoba was settled back onto the couch with Ren hovering over him, both pairs of hands roaming all over, gripping at this and curling around that, just to _feel_ another living body being so intimately close.  
  
He shivered at the cool air upon his stomach, exposed from the wandering, and he arched his back up to curl into Ren's warmth. In the back part of his mind, somewhere he ultimately decided to ignore, he told himself, ' _This is wrong._ '  
  
He kept his eyes closed, blocking out the face of the person in his arms, trying to place a different pitch to his groans and sighs; here, in this moment, he could imagine anyone else holding him down to the couch and caressing him this tenderly. When his eyelids flitted open every now and then, usually whenever the kiss would slowly fall apart, Ren came into his view and the illusion was broken.  
  
And, somehow, he didn't mind that.  
  
Aoba knew the way Ren would look at him when he thought the boy wasn't paying attention. He knew that Ren would play with his hair the nights they shared a bed when he thought he was asleep, that he would gingerly move it out of his face before Ren left for work in the morning when he was on the couch, that a light blush would dust his cheeks whenever Aoba smiled – whether it was at him or not. He enjoyed the attention and careful consideration Ren would show him, and at times, he did wish he could feel _something_ towards him.  
  
But Ren never could stir the fire in his belly the way Noiz did.  
  
Still, the kiss was nice and having a body as strong as Ren's wrapping around felt nice, so he let those hands move under his shirt, touch at the skin beneath. He shuddered in contentment at the contrast of warm palms against cool skin, gradually heating up more and more until the heat grew unbearable and Aoba squirmed beneath him in the attempt to remove his shirt entirely; this continued like this until they were both topless, clad in only their boxers and a flush that melted down to their shoulders.  
  
Ren had his hands on the band of Aoba's briefs when he spoke up, “Are you sure you want this?”  
  
He nodded wordlessly, breathing heavy and hot as he gave Ren a pleading look. At this point, he didn't care who was undressing him and touching him; all that mattered was that he was being touched, being kissed all over, adored. He let himself sink back into the pleasure with a whimper as Ren kissed the insides of his thighs and slowly brought the piece of clothing down.  
  
And when his thoughts were clear enough to register the situation, they were already in Ren's room, on his bed, both entirely naked and lightly damp with sweat as Ren held himself up over his smaller body and rolled their hips together. Aoba jolted at the sensation of being so full, his fingernails scrambling for purchase against the sheets as his head was tossed back with a gasp.  
  
Ren murmured something he couldn't quite understand as he leaned down closer, the words ' _hold onto me_ ' whispered lovingly into the whorls of his ear. Aoba obeyed, bringing his hands to wrap around Ren's back and pulling him down to press their wet chests together. His nails dug into the taut skin as the pace increased, his legs moving on their own to wrap around Ren's waist as a cry was forced out of him when a sudden bolt of sweetness shot down his legs and made his toes numb.  
  
The feeling of lips pressing against his jaw, all the way down to his neck before they came back to lock together with Aoba's only amplified that numbness. He shuddered against the built frame against him, each cry, whimper, moan encouraging Ren to keep doing whatever he was doing. He obliged eagerly, rocking their bodies back and forth with a hunger Aoba thought he'd never truly understand.

 _Keep loving me_.

“A-Ah...! Hah...!” He keened as he pulled away from the kiss. His eyes remained shut tightly and he threw his head back against the pillow, arching his spine off of the mattress.

Without really meaning to, he thought of what it would've been like if Noiz was the one pounding into him, holding him down and making him take it, making love to him, making him feel this amazing; when he imagined it, the desire to consume and to be consumed by Noiz came welling up rapidly in his chest, and suddenly he couldn't feel anything but searing heat on his skin and a familiar emptiness in his gut.  
  
He didn't hear his own pleas of ' _more, more, more_ ' intensifying, nor did he realize his nails digging into Ren's back with the intent to claw through the flesh or the way he growled Noiz's name in a way that was borderline animalistic, low and hungry in the back of his throat, or the pleasant warmth stemming from his back.  
  
Aoba shot himself up against Ren without warning and bit down into the crook of his neck. _Hard_.  
  
At the iron taste of blood filling his mouth, he lost total control of his senses for the briefest of seconds, tensing around Ren's hard cock inside of him. This taste was Ren – he knew from the way it perfectly synchronized with his scent. It was sweet.

But it wasn't the same _kind_ of sweet he craved.  
  
When he came down from his high, he quietly asked Ren to stop, which the other did so without a single word or protest. Ren carefully, slowly pulled out of him and looked down at him with concern. Aoba stared at the wound he left on Ren's shoulder, the way the blood streamed down like syrup and the marks his teeth had made. He could've sworn, in the corner of his eye, he saw pieces of purple and red flitting away like dust as the heat in his body cooled.  
  
Finally, he looked back to Ren, and he could see the vague look of sadness in his eyes.  
  
Before he could even open his mouth to speak, Ren leaned down and gently peppered his lips all over his cheeks, kissing away the tears that weren't really there; it was like Ren could see right into his soul, like he _understood_.  
  
Aoba let himself be swept away by Ren's embrace, taking comfort in the fact that even if he didn't understand himself, he had someone who _did_.

 

* * *

  
  
Later, in the odd hours of the night, Ren had cleaned his body of blood and semen, the scratches and bite healing just fine, dressed himself and left a sweet kiss on Aoba's temple before he left the man sleeping in his bed to traverse to a neighboring town some roads over.  
  
There were others who couldn't sleep or worked nights, and he greeted them in passing as he made his way down the road and around the corner towards a convenience store. Before he could make it there, however, a group of teenagers laughing brought his attention down to the space between two buildings. Even in the darkness, he could make out their figures surrounding a boy – his scent gave off the fact that he was a ghoul.  
  
“You're fucking disgusting!” one of them jeered, shoving him against the wall. “You ghouls think you're some hot shit, _don'tcha_?”  
  
A very audible thud of a skull being punched back against a brick wall rang in Ren's ears, followed by a low, pained groan drowned out by taunts and laughter.  
  
“So what, then? You gonna fight back?”  
  
“C'mon! Let's see you tear us to shreds!” They continued to goad him, pushing and kicking him despite his pleas. “Show us that _thing_ you guys use to kill people!”  
  
“Hey.”  
  
Ren's voice startled them, jolting where they stood as they turned their attention towards the stranger walking towards them with his hands shoved into his jacket's pockets. The young ghoul stood onto shaky legs from the ground, using the brick wall as support.  
  
“This doesn't concern you, dude,” the one wearing the camouflage hoodie snarled.  
  
“Yeah! We're just teaching this walking piece of shit a lesson!” another, a tall lanky kid with oily hair chimed in, chortling with the other three or four or so.  
  
“It's not safe at night. You kids all need to go home,” Ren stated simply, keeping his tone stiff and authoritative. All it ended up doing was causing a raucous of laughter to boom throughout the alley. He clenched his jaw and twitched his eyebrow – kids these days, Jesus.  
  
“You ain't our dad, old man. Why don't you head home before you shit your pants?”  
  
Save for their taunts and cackling, the street was quiet. Ren took a cautious step forward. “I will give you one more warning. Leave.”  
  
Their response was to shove the ghoul against the wall again before they surrounded Ren, muttering things about how he was ' _seriously pissing me off now_ ' and how ' _old men just get in the way_ '. He registered the glint of a knife reflecting from the distant streetlight from the corner of his eye, and he spun on his heel to trip its wielder – the tall kid, he noted – before he felt the dull sensation of something sharp pressing into his side.  
  
He turned to see another member of the group slowly backing away, bent knife in his shaky hands. The others saw the way the weapon only bent against Ren's skin instead of penetrating it, and they gradually backed away until they all ran in full sprint towards the end of the alley and into the other street, the tripped up kid scrambling to his feet to tail after them. When Ren looked over to where they left the younger ghoul, he found they were already running the opposite direction of them, staggering from his injuries.  
  
“You could have killed them, you know,” a gruff voice from partway down the alley broke through the rigid air. Ren glanced over his shoulder to the man, a large and bulky figure stepping out of the shadows. His black V-neck clung to his torso like it was another layer of skin, long dreads pulled back to reveal a clean undercut. Ren chuckled bitterly at the suggestion.  
  
“I'm not foolish enough to kill on your hunting grounds, Mink.”  
  
“Didn't think you were,” Mink chortled back in response, leaning against the wall the younger ghoul had been thrown against. “Still, given the circumstances, I may have allowed it. We are a dying breed, and we have to protect one another.”  
  
Ren clenched his jaw at hearing that, and he turned around to give Mink a glare. “You and I both know I'm not like the rest of you.”  
  
“You stand at the border that divides our worlds. I can only imagine the conflict within you and I pray that you will one day find inner peace.” The scent of tobacco and cinnamon followed the soft _flick_ of a lighter and glow of a flame.  
  
“I appreciate your concern as my teacher, but it is not needed,” Ren replied lowly. “I have everything I could ask for.”  
  
“Then you are more blessed than most,” Mink sighed out along with a puff of smoke. A quiet moment passed before he continued with, “It's late. You should hurry with what you plan to do and return home to your mate. You reek of sex.”  
  
Ren huffed in response before nodding and passing him to leave the older ghoul behind, towards the other end of the street.  
  
Mink raised an eyebrow at tips of the bikaku slowly retracting into Ren's lower back beneath his jacket.

 


	6. omake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's moments of calm to signify the oncoming storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, I'm not *TERRIBLY* satisfied with this chapter but it introduces Theo and it's really meant to be filler, so.

The shrill sound of a phone ringing broke through the comfortable silence in Noiz's office, the lit screen beside his keyboard joining the monitor in illuminating the otherwise dark room. Any annoyance melted away once he saw the caller ID.  
  
He reached over and brought it up to his ear after hitting the _'Accept'_ button. “Hey, Theo.”  
  
“ _Ah, Bruder! I didn't wake you, did I?_ ”  
  
Noiz leaned back in his seat, chuckling lowly. “Nah. I'm up late doing some data entry. How're things over there?”  
  
“ _They're fine. My training's going pretty well, but I'm nowhere near your level of athleticism so that's my primary focus right now. Our trainer says I've got a knack for picking up on small things though which is a great skill to have when tracking down and identifying ghouls_.”  
  
The blond went quiet then, mulling over his thoughts.  
  
His younger brother decided to follow in his footsteps and join the European faction of the CCG two years after he did; he wanted to do it at the same time, but Theo was not yet of age. Obviously, both of their parents were opposed to Theo joining since they had to have at least one son alive to take over the family company and being an agent of the CCG had its risks.  
  
It was exactly those risks that gave Noiz the rush he had been craving for since the day he realized he was different from everyone else.  
  
“Well, that's good to hear. But don't think you have to compare yourself to me, Theo. This is still a dangerous job and you shouldn't rush things.”  
  
“ _I know, I know. I just can't wait until after I graduate, then I can transfer over to your faction!_ ”  
  
At this, they both laughed lightly. It had been a few years since Noiz had transferred over, with Japan's ghoul problem being a much bigger issue than Germany's and as he was his class's most promising agent, he was assigned to the area.  
  
While they chatted, Noiz's eyes wandered around the room – metallic, sterile, barren of much else besides his filing cabinets and work desk, which was decorated with a state-of-the-art computer and tiny cubed clock with a green and black design which vaguely resembled a digital rabbit projecting the time above it. He spent most of his time not out in the field here in this office, filing reports and checking on the progress of any quinque or case updates. The room itself was spacious, but it was cold, and it reminded him of the hospital room he spent many years of his young life in, caged like an animal.  
  
He hated this office more than anything else.  
  
_“Oh, I should probably get going. I have to go in now, we're reviewing different cases that veteran agents took part in. I think this one is about the Centipede...? Ever heard of it?”_  
  
“Ah, yeah. That was from like twenty years ago. A lot of agents lost their lives trying to take down a Rank-S ghoul. We reviewed it in my training class, too.”  
  
_“Sounds scary...Well, I'll discuss it with you next time we talk! I have to go now, Bruder.”_  
  
Noiz chuckled, returning his gaze to the computer screen in front of him. A sudden pang in his chest shook him briefly. “Hey, Theo?”  
  
_“Yeah?”_  
  
He inhaled once, gripping his phone with a sense of desperation. “...Be careful.”  
  
_“I will, and you do, too! You're the one actually doing the dangerous work. I'll talk to you later, Bruder!”_  
  
“Later.”  
  
With that, the call was disconnected. As Noiz set his phone back onto the desk, he noticed the green rabbit charm splayed out beside it. It was slightly scuffed and some paint had chipped off from the fall from his apartment, and the very sight of it took him back to that night.  
  
It had been a little over a month since he had last seen Aoba or the Wolf. While he, Koujaku, and the android – since named Clear, after making an off-handed comment about how he's practically transparent with how well he blends into a crowd of people – have taken down quite a number of ghouls and refined their skills and weapons, the trail leading them to Aoba had gone cold. Additionally, despite their efforts and significant successes with eradicating ghouls, the missing persons list didn't seem to falter, as though the shrinking number of ghouls were branching out and hunting more with less competition.  
  
Speaking of, he still had to check his email regarding the missing teenagers from a town over. Sighing, Noiz sat up in his seat and got back to work.

 

* * *

  
  
“Thank you for the food!” Aoba chimed, clapping his hands together at the table with the other man sitting across it from him. Ren smiled warmly, and the two dug into their meat.  
  
It was nice having Ren at home more often, saving Aoba from his boredom as well as getting a chance to better know his long-lost friend. He was honestly surprised when Ren came home the other night with several grocery bags to keep in the freezer, but with both the food and the company, Aoba wasn't going to complain or question it.  
  
After dinner and cleaning up their dishes, Ren joined Aoba in the bath, holding him close against his chest with Aoba's back to him. Ever since that first night of desperation, Aoba had been a bit more wary around Ren, but lately he had started to open up more and the nights they spent together grew more frequent. They had fallen into a comfortable rhythm of physical affection – spooning at night, pressing together while watching TV, just _touching_ at every given opportunity, as though the other would suddenly disappear again.  
  
“Aoba,” Ren spoke suddenly, watching as Aoba ran a wash rag along the length of his arm, leaving suds in its wake.  
  
“Hm?” Aoba hummed in response. He froze at feeling Ren's hand cover his, bring it back to press his palm against Ren's face. “What's up?”  
  
“Nothing.” Ren leaned into the palm and gently kissed it. “I just wanted to say your name. Even now, I'm having a hard time believing you're really here.”  
  
Aoba huffed and lightly elbowed Ren's side with his other arm before he leaned back and settled into Ren's chest. “I'm still trying to take it all in, but it's gotten easier.”  
  
“I'm glad.”  
  
A moment of tranquil silence passed between them, the occasional of _drip, drip, drip_ from the bath faucet echoing against the tiles of the bathroom. Aoba exhaled in bliss, surrounded by the warmth of the water and of the man holding him. For the first time in however long he could remember, he felt at total peace.  
  
“...Hey, Ren.”  
  
“Hm?” The low hum reverberated against the back of Aoba's neck, Ren leaning down to place his chin upon Aoba's shoulder so their cheeks were pressing.  
  
“Why don't we go out tomorrow? Both of us? I want to meet everyone,” Aoba inquired in a soft voice. Thus far, Ren had been very careful given their situation and was extremely adamant about keeping Aoba hidden for the time being. But, things had grown quiet, and no Doves had shown in this small town.  
  
“...Okay,” Ren conceded. “But you must stay close to me. I don't want to see you out of my sight.”  
  
“I'm not a kid,” the smaller of the two pouted, earning a low chuckle of amusement from the other.

 


	7. Tell Me What This All Means

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exposition!!
> 
> I know that some people reading this story haven't read or seen Tokyo Ghoul, and I figured why not kind of explain the different kagune to those who are unfamiliar? I apologize if this chapter seems lackluster, admittedly not a whole lot happens regarding the plot but at least we have our two parties meeting.
> 
> It's taken a while getting this out, but with this hopefully it'll get the ball rolling again. It's all going to be downhill from here, just a head's up.

“You need to bring your arms in, keep your elbows close against your trunk,” Ren instructed, hands adjusting Aoba's limbs to bring them into a more defensive stance. “There, like that. Now keep this stance while maintaining balance.”  
  
“I know how to defend myself, Ren,” Aoba grumbled, keeping the pose anyway.  
  
Mink stood leaning against the wall of a building enclosing the three in the alley, and he observed the two as Ren guided Aoba through another lesson. Ever since he was introduced to Aoba about a month ago, he had kept a close eye on both him and Ren and took it upon himself to make sure they would be able to protect themselves and each other.  
  
“You've made great progress thus far, which is not to say that you weren't already a decent fighter to begin with.” Mink exhaled a puff of smoke from the pipe he held in his hand. “This may be a good time to end the lesson on self-defense. Take a short break to rest up, we'll work on offense afterwards.”  
  
As if on cue, Aoba's arms dropped like wet noodles and his stance slouched, heaving a great sigh as his body relaxed. A quick stretch later and he had joined Ren and Mink for some water. The three remained in the shadows between the buildings, which grew as the sun continued to set and the activity in the streets quieted.  
  
After being forced to stay inside for so long, Aoba was almost too eager to go out for their regular training sessions. He appreciated Ren's gusto and desire to protect him, he really did, but it wasn't like he was an _invalid_.

“I'm going to run down to the convenience store to grab some coffee during our break. Would either of you like some?” Ren inquired as he turned to leave, pausing in his step to look over his shoulder and lock gazes with Aoba. Mink uttered a low, “No, thank you,” while Aoba could only blush under his intense gaze and nod shyly.  
  
With Ren disappearing around the corner, the other two ghouls were left alone in the alley. Mink continued to smoke his pipe as Aoba fidgeted from nerves. When he first met Mink per Ren's introductions and insistence of teaching him how to defend himself, he gave off this intimidating, hostile vibe; after spending a bit more time with him, however, he found that he rather liked Mink's company. He was a man of few words and at times came off as aloof, but just being in his presence made Aoba feel safe.  
  
“Instead of practicing hand-to-hand combat, today I was thinking we can hone your skills with your kagune,” Mink broke the silence after exhaling the cinnamon-scented smoke from his pipe; Aoba recognized it from when he lived with his grandmother, and it brought a vile taste in his mouth with the nostalgia. Mink glanced over at the smaller ghoul who leaned against the wall beside him. “Being able to utilize your own fists is always a benefit, but ultimately we rely on our kagune when hunting or when engaged in combat.”  
  
Aoba gulped silently and looked away. “I'm...still a bit unsure of how exactly I bring it out. It's happened a few times, but those were all when I was either starving or...”  
  
His voice trailed off as he remembered what bits and pieces he could of the last night he saw Noiz, that heat burning his spine ingrained into his mind.  
  
“You can think of it as an automatic reaction to having an intense desire for something,” Mink explained, garnering Aoba's attention back to him. “For example, you desire to eat, and when that desire blocks out all of your other thoughts or sense of reason, your body acts on instinct. Of course, with practice you can control it. The same principle can be applied to wanting to protect someone...or wanting to kill someone.”  
  
He never thought of it like that before. Aoba remained silent in thought as Mink took another drag.  
  
“Each of us has a different kagune, though they can be classified into four specific types,” the older of the two began. His free hand reached over and he gently pressed the tips of his thumb and middle finger on specific opposing spots along Aoba's back, who jolted at the sudden contact. “Yours is an ukaku, which are lightweight and ideal for speed. I've only encountered a handful of those who bear an ukaku in my lifetime, but I've seen what they can do. When utilized properly, they can be quite the useful weapon and shield. Compared to the others, however, they are rather frail.  
  
“Next,” His hand moved a bit lower, pressing his palm right between the bottom part of his shoulder blades, “is the koukaku. Unlike the ukaku, this is dense and heavy and can at times be a bit of a challenge to wield, though its destructive power is undeniable. Ghouls who carry the koukaku tend to use it for sheer force.” He chuckled lowly. “Myself included.”  
  
Aoba gave a small hum in acknowledgment before Mink continued descending his hand to the middle of his spine. “The next type of kagune is the rinkaku. When its user spawns this kagune, it typically takes the form of tentacles and are generally just as soft and easy to tear. However, a ghoul with a rinkaku will be able to recover from attacks quickly. Their numbers in particular have dwindled significantly so the likelihood of you actually encountering one is minimal, but those remaining have shown to be hostile. In the event you do come across one, proceed with extreme caution.”

Aoba processed the information in his head, attempting to memorize the names and traits for both his and Mink's kagune. He was dragged out of his thoughts with a gasp and shiver as Mink's hand moved even lower, resting at the small of his back.  
  
“Finally, this is where the bikaku stems from. Overall, they're the most balanced of the kagune – decent offense and defense, surprisingly remarkable speed. Ghouls with this kagune are a force to be reckoned with,” he chuckled once again. “Be grateful you have Ren on your side.”  
  
“Oh, is this what Ren has?” Aoba arched his back to twist his body and look down over his shoulder to get a look at where Mink rested his hand. “I've never seen it. He's only recently let me outside, and even then he never lets me go with him to where he gets food.” A sigh. “I don't want to be a burden on him, so I pressured him into letting me out, at least to become familiar with the area. He says I'm still a wanted man.”  
  
“By the Doves, no doubt.”  
  
Aoba turned his attention towards Mink as the hand retracted reignite the tobacco in his pipe. “What _are_ they? The Doves, I mean.”  
  
Mink's eyebrow twitched in irritation. He inhaled deeply, a soft glow blossoming from the bowl of his pipe, before he released his breath and let the smoke flow out from between his lips, a hand coming to pinch the space between his eyes with his fingers. After what seemed like forever, he bit his lower lip and bitterly spat, “Harbingers of death and destruction. They are humans whose sole purpose is to eradicate our kind, indiscriminately and without mercy.”  
  
There was a sharpness to Mink's words that Aoba identified as resentment, a sheer hatred for something that had personally cut him deep, deep into the very core of his being. “Be it children, women, ghouls that can't fight back...”  
  
The image of Noiz at his apartment that night, the look of utter determination in his icy green eyes flitted through Aoba's mind. It made sense, then. Why Noiz had so badly wanted him dead.  
  
“...I see.”

 

* * *

 

The route to the nearest convenient store was a bit longer than Ren had initially anticipated.  
  
Aoba had grown much more capable in the last several days; he improved significantly with both defending himself and fighting with punches and kicks. He was in a ghoul-friendly neighborhood, in a quiet part of town. Hardly anyone knew of his existence. Mink was with him.  
  
And yet, something continued to nag at the back of Ren's mind that made him so _nervous_.  
  
He took up a slight jog in his step, around the corner and down the road until the lights for the convenience store at the end of the street flickered to life with the setting sun. A light _ding-dong_ chimed as he walked through the automatic doors, giving the clerk a distracted nod in acknowledgment as he shuffled his way through to the drink aisle.  
  
Eyes quickly scanning the shelves of the fridges, Ren slowly stepped past them as he searched for Aoba's favorite brand of iced coffee. He was so concentrated on the task at hand that he ended up nudging against the person looking through the fridge next to him.  
  
“Ah, sorry,” Ren startled, looking over at the other man in apology, who only grinned nervously and waved a scarred hand with a quick, “No, no worries.”  
  
The two stood there awkwardly, returning to the task of finding their drinks. After a moment, Ren hummed in relief when he spotted the brand he was looking for. He quickly grabbed two of them before he grabbed another for himself and took extra care to step around the man beside him as he made his way to the cashier.  
  
After quickly paying for and bagging his drinks, he turned around and stepped aside to make way for the same man in line behind him to pay for his own coffee, as well as a box of cigarettes from behind the counter. By the time he left the store, it had grown significantly darker outside. A slight breeze had picked up, and with it came carried the faint scent of Aoba and Mink.  
  
For some reason, just that was enough to ease his worries, if only a little bit. Bag in hand, he began to walk back down the path he came from, mentally going through the lessons he would run through with Aoba tonight.  
  
Aoba had grown proficient enough with conventional means of defense that Mink would probably suggest beginning to train his kagune. Bearing that in mind, he would need to give a run down on what exactly a kagune was, what it could do, what it could be used for, and how to bring it out. Honestly, most of this was elementary knowledge, but Aoba had been unaware of his true being for the majority of his life and so there was a lot of ground to make up if he were to survive.  
  
Come to think of it, Aoba had never really gotten the chance to get a good look at a kagune. That would be the first thing he'd do, he decided. He'd show Aoba his--  
  
A step from behind him interrupted his thoughts. A vaguely familiar scent lingered in the air. Ren slowly, slightly turned his head to the side so as not to make it obvious and he peaked over his shoulder from behind the collar of his jacket.  
  
It was the man from earlier.  
  
That uneasy feeling came slowly rising up in his gut again. The man didn't seem to be paying much attention to him, though; he was just slowly dragging his cigarette, messing around on his phone. Even so, Ren couldn't shake the paranoia and was relieved to arrive at the first corner back to Aoba. Once he turned it, however, a quick glance back showed that the man, too, had come this way.  
  
Clenching his jaw, he turned his attention back ahead of him and quickly scanned the area. If he were to take the same path as before, he would need to keep going straight. So, when the next corner came, he took a right.  
  
The man also took a right.  
  
_He knew it_.  
  
Now completely convinced he was being deliberately followed, Ren concluded that joining up with Mink and Aoba was not an option. The risk of putting them in danger was too great. Instead, he maneuvered through the streets, checking at every corner he turned to ensure he was still being tailed – he was.  
  
Eventually there came a turn into a dead end. Perfect.  
  
“Is there any particular reason you've been following me?” Ren spoke sternly, turning around to face his pursuer. Said man only shrugged and chuckled as he removed his cigarette from his mouth, shifting his weight onto one leg.  
  
“Subtly never _was_ my forte.” That same grin broke out onto his face and his free hand came up to pull back in hair in annoyance; Ren noted the scar across his face and the tattoo surrounding his eye. “Well, no use trying to hide it now.”  
  
The stranger reached into his back pocket and pulled out what looked to be a handle of sorts. With a quick swing, a glowing red light flowed out and expanded as though it were unfolding until it took the shape of a wide, thin sword made of stained glass. Ren's eyes widened once he recognized what it was, unable to move or even thin for a second.  
  
“Ah, you know what this is, then. Your face gave it away.” He smirked, flicking away the butt of his used cigarette away.  
  
Ren's glare could shoot daggers. He gently set the bag of coffee down onto the ground and nudged it aside with his foot.  
  
A searing, yet calming heat came from deep within the skin on his lower back, and with it his bikaku sprang forth, jagged in design and yet fluid like the tail of a wild animal, blue with ripples of black as though it were made of waves from the deepest sea. It curled around the ankle of his right foot, flicking slightly once or twice against the ground.  
  
“It was a pain to track you down, y'know? But I'm glad we were finally able to meet, Wolf.” The Dove took a single step forward, spinning his quinque in his hand until he found a better grip before he took a defensive stance, somewhat resembling that of a samurai. “Let's get this over with.”

 

* * *

 

The sun had vanished some time ago, the only lights now from the nearby street and Mink's pipe. Aoba was beginning to grow anxious, wasn't the store just a short walk away?  
  
“Ren's taking a while, isn't he?” He asked and looked over to Mink to find him frozen. “...Mink?”  
  
Mink held up a hand to shush him. He had straightened his posture and occasionally sniffed the air, turning his head to listen. As if in realization, his head jerked upwards towards the roof of the building they were leaning against. Aoba followed his gaze and he, too, froze.  
  
On the roof was a well-dressed figure, grinning down at them through the darkness. He suddenly pushed off the edge to come shooting down at them, and without warning Mink shoved Aoba off to the side while he bolted in the opposite direction. Aoba let out a grunt upon hitting the ground before he scrambled to his feet and watched as the dust kicked up from the figure hitting the asphalt between them.  
  
Once the dust settled, Aoba watched the figure slowly bring themselves upright before gently brushing the dirt off the sleeves of their jacket. The gut feeling of danger bubbled up like bile, his heart pounding against his chest as they slowly turned to look right at him.  
  
The stranger's eyes practically bore into Aoba, as though they were peering through his skin and right into his very core. That smile was unwavering, gleeful in contrast to the lifelessness in their eyes despite their strange pink-ish glow.  
  
“Found you.”

 


End file.
